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AMERICA 



OLONIAL HISTO 



R. L. ASHLEY 




THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



AMERICAN COLONIAL HISTORY 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO 
SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY ■ CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 

TORONTO 



AMERICAN 
COLONIAL HISTORY 

For Use in Secondary Schools 



BY 

ROSCOE LEWIS ASHLEY 

AUTHOR OF "THE AMERICAN FEDERAL STATE," "AMERICAN 
GOVERNMENT," "AMERICAN HISTORY," ETC. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1911 

All rights reserved 






Copyright, 1907, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 

Set up and e'ectrotyped. Published June, 1907. Reprinted 
September, 1907; November, 1908; October, 1909; May, Oc- 
tober, 1910; July, 1911. 

Special edition published September, 1911. 



Norfaiooti ^rees 

J. S, Gushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 





\ 




^ 

Vs^ 


^ 

V 





PREFACE 

This book contains Part I of Ashley's American 
History. Its purpose is to provide the necessary 
material for the study of American Colonial History 
in connection with the course in EngUsh History, as 
recommended by the Committee of Five on the Study 
of History in Secondary Schools. 



SUGGESTIONS 

On account of the limited time at the disposal of high 
school pupils, the marginal references have been selected 
with care. Most of them will be found in the average 
public library, and a fair proportion in the ordinary high 
school library. Many of the groups of marginal refer- 
ences can be used for topics to supplement the lists given 
at the ends of the chapters. 

The following lists of books will probably be found most 
useful in connection with this text. As duplicates are 
always more useful for class use than even a large number 
of titles, a large high school library would probably con- 
tain a much larger number of books from the first and 
second lists than from the third. 

I. A SMALL LIBRARY 

One or more copies of each of the following: — 
Cambridge Modern History, Vol. VII. 
COMAN, Industrial History of the United States. 

MacDonald, Select Documents of United States History {i']']6-iS6l') ^ 
Burgess, Middle Period. 
Dodge, Bird^s Eye Viezv of the Civil War. 

Hart (ed.), American History told by Contemporaries, Vol. IV. 
American History Leaflets, Nos. 4, 5, 23, 30. 

II. A MEDIUM-SIZED LIBRARY 

Selected from the books given above and the following: — 
Epochs of American History, 3 volumes. 
Channing and Hart, Guide to American History. 
MacDonald, Select Charters Illustrative of American History. 
MacDonald, Select Statutes of United States History. 
The American Nation : — 

Bourne, Spain in America. 
Andrews, Colonial Self- Government. 
vii 



viii Suggestions 

Howard, Preliminaries of the Revolution, 

Van Tyne, The Americaji Revolution. 

McLaughlin, Confederation and the Constitution, 

Turner, Rise of the Nezu IVest. 

Hart, Abolition and Slavery. 
Channing, History of the United States, Vol. I. 
Parkman, Strtiggle for a Continent. 
FiSKE, Critical Period of American History. 
Ashley, American Federal State, 
Hart, Actual Government. 

Hart (ed.), American History told by Contemporaries, 4 volumes. 
A?nerican History Leaflets. 
Old South Leaflets. 

Dewey, Financial History of the United States. 
Foster, A Century of Afuerican Diplomacy. 
Johnston, American Political History, 2 volumes. 
Burgess, Middle Period. 

Burgess, Civil War and the Constitution, Vol. I. 
Stan wood. History of the Presidency. 
Andrews, The United States in our Own Time. 
Larned (ed.), History for Ready Reference, Vol. VI. 
Elson, History of the United States. 

in. A LARGE LIBRARY 

Selected from the books given above and the following : — 

WiNSOR, Narrative and Critical History of America, 8 volumes, 
* The American Nation, rest of the 27 volumes. 
*Fiske, 13 volumes on American history. 
*Semple, American History and its Geographic Conditions, 

Brigham, Geographic Lnfluences in American History, 

Ogg, Opening of the Mississippi. 

Eggleston, Beginners of a Nation. 

Frothingham, Rise of the Reptiblic. 

Lodge, Short History of the English Colonies. 

Doyle, English Colonies, 5 volumes. 

Johnston (Woodburn) (eds.), American Eloquence, 4 volumes. 

Roosevelt, Winning of the West, 4 volumes. 
♦Taussig, Tariff History of the United States. 

Schouler, History of the United States ( 1 783-1865), 6 volumes. 
*McM aster, //zj/^ry of the People of the United States (1783- 1860) 
7 volumes published. 

White, Money and Ba?iking. 
♦Rhodes, Llistory of the United States since the Compromise of 18^0, 
7 volumes. 



Snggestio7zs ix 

American Statesmen Series; especially volumes, on Franklin, ♦Wash- 
ington, *Hamilton, *Webster, *Clay, *Calhoun, Lincoln, 
Benton, Chase, Seward, and Blaine. 

American Cominonzvealth Series; especially volumes on Virginia, 
Maryland, Connecticut, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, 
Louisiana, and Kansas. 

Larned, History for Ready Reference, 6 volumes. 
*Sparks, Expansion of the United States. 

Blaine, Twenty Years of Congress. 

Cox, Three Decades of Federal Legislation. 

Burgess, Civil War and the Constitution, Vol. IL 

Johnson, War of Secession. 

Wood-Edmunds, Civil War in the United States. 

Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, 4 volumes. 

Burgess, Reconstruction and the Constitution. 

Foster, American Diplomacy in the Orietit. 

Johnson, American Railway Transportation. 

Those starred in this list should be included in list II if possible. 



CONTENTS 

PART I 

THE COLONIAL PERIOD (1492-1763) 

CHAPTER I 

CONDITIONS AFFECTING COLONIZATION IN 
AMERICA. 1-23 

PAGE 

Introduction I 



Geographical Conditions : 

Geography and American colonization 

Climate and rainfall 

Natural resources ...... 

Geographical divisions of the United States 
Influence of geogi'aphy on English colonization 
Geographical advantages of the French colonies 

The North American Indian : 

The Indian tribes .... 
Life and character of the Indians 
General relations of Indians and Whites 
Help given to the English by the Indians 
Results of Indian wars 



Europe during the Fifteenth Century : 

13. Connection between the history of Europe and America 

14. Political Europe after 1450 

15. Trade with the East before 1475 .... 

16. Search for new sea routes to India .... 

17. Summary 



2 

3 

5' 
7 
8 
10 



17 
18 

19 
20 
21 



CHAPTER II 

THE FIRST CENTURY (1492-1600). 24-39 

The Discovery of a New World : 

18. Preparation of Columbus 24 

19. Columbus's first voyage ...••«. 25 

xi 



xii Co7ttents 

SECTION PAGE 

20. The Pope's division of the earth 26 

21. Later voyages of Columbus ...... 27 

22. The Cabots 28 

23. Vespucius and the naming of America .... 29 

24. The Pacific Ocean 30 

Explorations in the United States (15 13-1543) : 

25. Florida (1513-1536) 3° 

26. The Southwest (1539-1543) 31 

27. De Soto 32 

28. Verrazano and Cartier 32 

The Close of the Sixteenth Century : 

29. The situation in Europe ....... 33 

30. The French in Florida (i 562-1 565) 34 

31. The English in the New World (i 562-1 583) . • • 35 

32. The Ralegh colonies (i 584-1 590) 36 

33. The results of the first century 37 

CHAPTER III 

EARLY ENGLISH COLONIZATION (i6oc^i66o). 40-62 

Virginia (1606-1625) : 

34. The charter of 1606 ........ 40 

35. The settlement at Jamestown ...... 41 

36. The influence of tobacco culture ..... 42 

37. The first Virginia assembly (1619) 43 

38. Virginia becomes a royal province (1624) . ... 43 

New England before 1628 : 

39. The Plymouth Company and the Council for New England 44 

40. The English Puritans 46 

41. The Puritans and the English monarchs .... 47 

42. The Pilgrim migrations 48 

43. Early history of New Plymouth 48 

Beginnings of Massachusetts Bay (i 628-1 636): 

44. The Massachusetts Bay Company 49 

45. King Charles and the Puritans 50 

46. Character of the Massachusetts Bay colony . , .51 

47. Political problems and dangers 52 

48. Religious difficulties 53 

Expansion in New England (1635-1645) : 

49. Providence plantations and Rhode Island ... 54 

50. The Connecticut Valley 55 



Contents 



xiii 



SECTION PAGE 

51. New Haven 56 

52. Northern New England 57 

53. The New England confederation (1643) .... 57 

Maryland : 

54. The charter of Maryland (1632) 59 

55. The proprietor and the freeman 60 

56. Religious toleration 60 

57. Summary 61 



58. 
59- 

60. 
61. 
62. 

64. 

65. 
66. 
67. 
68. 

69. 
70. 

71. 

72. 

73. 
74. 
75- 

76. 

77- 
78. 

79. 
80. 



CHAPTER IV 

LATER ENGLISH COLONIZATION (1660-1700). 63-85 

Commercial situation of England about 1660 
England and the Colonies (i 660-1 685) 

New York (i 609-1685) : 

The founding of New Netherland 
The province of New Netherland 
New Netherland and its neighbors . 
Conquest of New Netherland (1664) 
The English in New York (1664-1685) 

The Quaker Colonies : 

New Jersey and the Quakers 
Penn and his colony .... 
The government of Pennsylvania 
Boundaries of Pennsylvania 




The South after the Restoration (i 660-1 730 
Misgovernment in Virginia ( 1 660-1 676) 
Bacon's rebellion (1676) . 
The Carolina charters (i 663-1 665) . 
Proprietary government in Carolina (1667-1729) 

New England (1655-1685) : 

Problems of New England ( 1 655-1 675) . 

King Philip's war (1675-1676) .... 

Massachusetts and the Crown (i 675-1 684) 

The Great Revolution (i 685-1 700) : 

The Dominion of New England .... 

The revolution of 1689 in England and New England 
Revolutionary movements in the Middle and Southern 

Colonies 

Results of the revolution in America 
The colonies in 1700 . 



63 
64 

65 
65 
67 

67 
68 

69 

70 

71 

72 

73 
74 
75 
75 

76 

77 
78 



79 

80 

82 

83 
84 



xiv Contents 



CHAPTER V 

RIVALRY OF FRENCH AND ENGLISH (1689-1763) 
86-103 

SECTION PAGE 

81. Introduction 86 

French Exploration and Settlement : 

82. Founding of New France 86 

?>T,. Exploration of the West 88 

84. Louisiana (i 699-1 720) 89 

French and English Colonies (i 689-1 754) : 

85. TheTreaty of Utrecht (1713) 89 

86. Georgia 91 

87. The English colonists and their governors ... 92 

88. Government' of the French colonies .... 93 

89. Preparation for the final conflict ..... 94 



96 

97 

98, 

99 
100 



Expulsion of the French (i 754-1 763) : 
The struggle for the upper Ohio valley . 
The situation in America and in Europe 
The first period of the war (i 754-1 757) . 
The second period of the war (1758-1760) 
The Peace of Paris (1763) 

Summary 



95 
95 
97 
98 

99 

lOI 



CHAPTER VI 

COLONIAL CONDITIONS (1750). 104-126 

Population and Society : 

Number of the people 104 

Classes of society 105 

Indented servants ........ 106 

vSlavery 106 

Colonial life ......... 108 



Occupations : 
loi. Agriculture no 

102. Commerce and shipping . . . . . . .ill 

103. Industry and labor . , . , . . . .112 

104. Colonial currency . . 1 13 

105. The professions . . . . , . . .114 

Miscellaneous Conditions: 

106. Colonial churches . . . . . . . • I15 

107. Superstition . . . „ 116 



Contents xv 



SECTION PACE 

io8. Crime . . . . , , , , ^ .117 

109. Education uS 

no. Newspapers 120 

111. Travel 121 

112. Colonial Government . . . . , . . .122 

113. Colonial Law ......... 123 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Indians. By MacNeil 12 

Columbus 25 

Caravel of Columbus 26 

Sir Walter Raleigh 36 

Captain John Smith 41 

A Puritan. By St. Gaudens 51 

Roger Williams 54 

New York in the Seventeenth Century (New Amsterdam) . . 66 

William Penn 70 

Pine tree shilling 77 

Champlain ........... 87 

William Pitt 99 

Fireplace in a colonial kitchen. From Mrs. Earle's " Home 

Life in Colonial Days" 108 

A colonial hall. From Mrs. Earle's " Home Life in Colonial 

Days" 109 

A colonial church 1 15 

Pillory 117 

Page from an old school book 118 

Harvard College . . . . . . . . . .119 

Conestoga wagon 121 



MAPS AND DIAGRAMS 



Relief Map of the United States. By Howell . . opposite 

Isothermal Lines (United States and Europe) 

Average Rainfall in the United States 

Navigable Rivers and Portages of the United States . 

Location of the Principal Indian Families and Tribes . 

Europe, a.d. 1490 

Trade Routes from Europe to the East 

Toscanelli's Map of the Occident .... 

Line of Demarkation (1494) . . . 

America (1515) (Schoener). Simplified from Wmsor's " Narra 

tive and Critical History of America " . 
America (1541) (Mercator). Simplified from Wmsor's " Amer 



Exploration and Settlements before 1600 

Land Grants under Charter of 1606 .... 

Eastern North America (1621). From Dutch map in O'Cal 

laghan collection 

New England Settlements 

Boundaries of Pennsylvania 

North Atlantic Coast (1650- 1 695) {Colored) . . opposite 
Treaty of Utrecht; Territorial Changes (i 713) {Colored) '* 
Scene of the French and Indian War (i 754-1 759) 
Treaty of Paris; Territorial Changes (1763) {Colored) opposite 
Density of Population in English Colonies (1750) 



4 

5 

IT 
12 

18 
20 
24 

27 

29 
29 \ 

37 
40 

45 
58 

13 
82 
90 

97 
100 
104 



PART I 
THE COLONIAL PERIOD (1492-1763) 

CHAPTER I 

CONDITIONS AFFECTING COLONIZATION IN 
AMERICA 

I . Introduction. — Not many years ago the common What is 
opinion about history was expressed in the words, "happy ^'^^^^y'' 
is that people who have no history." To persons holding 
such a view, history was a record of wars and intrigues, of 
cruelty, misfortune, and destruction. This opinion of his- 
tory, common enough a generation ago, is held by few to-day, 
for we are beginning to realize that history is less a narrative 
of events than a record of progress — that it should not 
record the horrors of a nation's life but its achievements. It 
is hardly necessary to state that this must be quite as much a 
study of the means used to produce certain results, of the 
conditions which made possible and necessary certain 
achievements, as a description of the results themselves; 
for, after all, the purpose of studying history is not to learn 
facts, but to understand the causes and results of the great 
movements in the life of a people. 

This task is one of great interest and importance, but it Choice of 
presents many difficulties. We cannot, in a short time and topics in 
within a brief text, examine very much of the material to be j^j^^qj. 
found on this broad subject. We must therefore decide 
what phase or phases of history should receive special con- 
sideration, and then seek to concentrate our attention on those 
topics which mark most clearly the path we wish to follow. 
Since we cannot study all the phases of American develop- 
ment, we shall devote ourselves particularly to the develop- 

B I 



American History 



Two things to 
be noted. 



ment of the American nation — a subject that is political 
rather than social — and seek to discover how the American 
nation became what it is to-day. Many military events will 
be examined in the course of this study, for our wars have 
greatly influenced our national development. Commercial 
activities and social life will be considered to some extent, 
because without some knowledge of them we cannot under- 
stand certain changes in our country. 

In connection with each subject studied we should note 
two things : (i) what are the facts regarding the topic under 
consideration ? (2) how is this event connected with other 
events we have studied ? The first involves not only an act 
of memory but discrimination between the details that are 
more important and those that are insignificant; the second 
compels us to use the knowledge that we have gained in 
reasoning out the causes and results of the different move- 
ments. 
Three condi- Before taking up in a systematic way the record of Ameri- 
tions affecting can development, we must consider first three things that 
American j^^^^^ influenced our progress greatly, especially during our 

early years. One of these is the geography of the United 
States, which has influenced our history from the beginning 
and is now a factor of the first importance in determining 
the character of our life and occupations. The second deals 
with the original inhabitants, the Indians, whose influence 
during colonial times was very great, and the third with the 
situation in Europe at the time the continent was discovered. 



Four important 

geographical 

influences. 

Winsor (ed.), 
America, 
IV, x-xv. 



Geographical Conditions 

2. Geography and American Colonization. — In all ages 
the geography of different countries has exerted a very 
great influence on their history. In the development of 
the United States we can study the influence of physical 
conditions as, step by step, the territory was explored and 
opened to settlement. The effect of topography, soil, and 
climate can be measured, because we have fairly full and 
exact information of every early attempt to gain a foothold 



Geographical Cofiditions 3 

on this continent. During the colonial period, the geograph- 
ical characteristics which affected our history most were 
four in number: (i) The accessibihty of the new continent. Accessibility. 
Its position with reference to Europe, the character of its 
coast line, the extent of its water systems, and the navigabil- 
ity of its rivers aided exploration and settlement. (2) The 
possibility of a food supply. As no colony could continue Food supply. 
to exist if dependent on Europe or on other colonies for its 
food, it was necessary that grains and vegetables should 
be raised easily within the colony. Climate, rainfall, the 
character of the soil, and many other physiographical con- 
ditions affected this problem. (3) Its defensibility. The Defensibiiity. 
dangers to which a colony was exposed and the ease with 
which it might be defended were matters of the first impor- 
tance. If located in the heart of the country, scattered settle- 
ments were out of the question. The neighborhood of un- 
friendly European colonies was also to be avoided, and 
especial care was necessary to prevent the destruction of a 
colony through disease caused by extreme heat or cold or 
by the fevers all too common in the low marshy coastal 
belt. (4) Its general resources. Permanency depended on General 
the development of certain industries, which would not only resources, 
help the colonists to sustain life, but would produce articles 
which they could exchange for the necessaries that must be 
procured in Europe. The precious metals of Mexico and 
South America, the sugar and tobacco of Cuba, and the 
furs of New France explain the success of Spanish and 
French colonies. Topography and occupations account to 
a large extent also for the character of a colony. The com- 
pact little hamlets of New England could never have been 
developed in the broad fertile valleys of the South any 
more than the system of French trading posts could have been 
established in the narrow valleys of Massachusetts. After 
considering some of these physical conditions and the geo- 
graphical divisions of the United States, we shall note briefly 
how English and French colonization was affected by them. 
3. Climate and Rainfall. — The climate of the United 



American History 



Temperature 
of the coast 
and interior. 

Winsor (ed.), 
America, 
IV, ii, vi. 

Farrand, 
Basis of 
A me?: History, 
17-21. 



States, while on the whole temperate, presents many varia- 
tions. Two things that had a very great influence on our 
early history should be noted carefully, (i) The tempera- 
ture of the Atlantic slope and of the Mississippi basin is 
much lower than that of Europe in the same latitude, be- 
cause the warm waters of the Gulf Stream wash the shores 
of western Europe. (2) The winters in the northern half of 
the United States are very severe, especially in the interior 
which possesses to a marked degree the characteristics of a 
continental climate. The earliest American colonies were 




Isothermal Lines 



established below the latitude of Rome and the extreme 
cold was thus avoided, but most of the English colonists of 
the seventeenth century settled farther north and found 
themselves face to face with all the hardships and privations 
that a long winter would be likely to cause. In several 
cases the intense suffering led to the complete abandonment 
of the settlement. This very struggle for existence, however, 
seems to have benefited those who were courageous enough 
to attempt or hardy enough to endure the life north of the 
fortieth parallel. 



Geographical Conditions 



5 



The rainfall throughout the eastern half of the United 
Staito is sufficiently abundant to insure good crops without 
being so excessive as to prevent cultivation. It is heaviest 
on the Gulf slope, but almost as great along the Atlantic 
border. West of the Mississippi River the rainfall is less 
abundant and beyond the one hundred and fifth meridian 
is too light for the production of most crops. However, the 
great semi-arid plains of the West form one of the finest 
grazing regions in the world. 



Variations 
in rainfall. 

Shaler, 
United States, 
I, 15-20. 




200 300 400J- B.'D.Strvoii.U.T. 75 



Average Rainfall 



4. Natural Resources. — These climatic conditions have 
made it possible for Europeans to live within the United 
States. They contributed very largely to the success of the 
early settlements, because of the ease with which a supply 
of food could be raised. Without maize or Indian corn 
many of the early colonies would have been complete failures. 
Being a native product of this continent, maize was found Shaler, 

? .,1 -r. 1 -r T 1 1 United States, 

growmg wild to some extent. From the Indians who cul- 



Agricultural 
food supplies. 

Winsor (ed.), 
Atnerica, 
IV, xiii-xv. 



tivated it in a crude way, all early settlers secured supplies 



I, 25-27. 



American History 



Non agricul- 
tural foods. 



Commercial 
value of nat- 
ural resources. 



Influence of 
natural re- 
sources in re- 
cent history. 



by purchase or force, and it remained the chief food of the 
immigrants during the colonial period. This was largely 
due to the ease with which it was grown in half-cleared 
forests where wheat could not be raised, and to the abun- 
dance of the crop. As it is sensitive to the cold, it cannot be 
raised in the North, much to the loss of the colonists in that 
part of the continent. The early settlers depended a great 
deal on the pumpkins and squashes grown with the maize 
in the clearings. In the Great Lake basin wild rice was one 
of the chief foods for a large part of the population. 

Besides the agricultural productions on which the colonists 
depended, they used as food the immense supplies of fish 
and game. Colonization would have been very difficult, 
perhaps impossible, in New England and around the St. 
Lawrence, but for the fisheries, the cod particularly being 
a source of considerable wealth because exported in large 
quantities. Frontiersmen found it possible to sustain life 
on the flesh of the animals killed. 

Far more valuable to the early settlers was the vast trade 
in peltries which engaged the attention of a large percentage 
of the population in New France and New Netherland. 
This fur trade determined the location of almost all of the 
frontier towns, which were at the beginning little more than 
trading posts. In the South the greater productivity of the 
soil and the mildness of the climate made the question of 
food supply a less serious one, but the growth of tobacco 
in Virginia especially and the exportation of rice from the 
coast plantations aided greatly in the development of colonies 
in that section. The abundance of excellent timber along 
the coast furnished material for the construction of homes 
and stimulated industries like ship building. Although the 
dense forests interfered somewhat with agriculture, they 
were a valuable aid to the colonists in other ways, lumber 
being one of the chief exports of the English provinces. 

From this fragmentary account we can appreciate perhaps 
the influence of natural conditions on colonial development. 
We can understand also how the favorable agricultural 



Geographical Conditions 7 

conditions in this country, coupled with its unexcelled Farrand, 

supply of coal, iron, copper, and other minerals, its numerous ^'^^'^ of Amer. 

rivers and excellent harbors, have made it possible for the winsor (ed.) 

United States to develop with amazing rapidity since the America, 
colonial period. 

5. Geographical Divisions of the United States. — The General, 

topography of the United States is very interesting. On the winsor (ed.), 

east and the west are two great oceans, the narrower America, 

separating us from those European countries from which ^^' "^~^' 

almost all American settlers came. One half of the southern Farrand, 

border is a great arm of the sea, and nearly one third of the Basis of Amer. 

^ •' History, 7-14. 

northern boundary is a system of lakes penetrating nearly 

one half of the distance to the Pacific. Two great systems of 
mountains divide the country into several distinct geograph- 
ical divisions. One, the Appalachian, running northeast 
and southwest, parallel with the Atlantic coast line, is low 
and comparatively narrow, with passes connecting the East 
with the West along the Mohawk, in Pennsylvania and at 
Cumberland Gap.^ The second, the Cordilleran system, 
averages one thousand miles across and is really a high table 
land fringed for the most part by high ranges on its eastern 
and western edges. 

East of the Appalachian system is the Atlantic slope, nar- Atlantic 
row and consequently rather steep at the north, giving that ^^°P^- 
section short, rapid rivers, with narrow valleys, and often 

Snaler, 

with numerous water falls; broader at the south, so that the united states 
country is more nearly level, the valleys therefore wider, 1.53-58, 61- 
and the rivers slower and navigable for a longer distance. ^' °9-74- 
Along the coast there are numerous bays and harbors, some 
of which are particularly fine. On the south Atlantic slope 
and on the eastern Gulf slope the coast is often marshy for 
a considerable distance inland. 

Between the great mountain systems lies the magnificent Mississippi 
Mississippi basin, the river and its tributaries comprising ^^^^"* 

^ The highest peaks are but little over six thousand feet. There are 
two ranges separated from Pennsylvania and North Carolina by a broad, 
fertile valley. 



8 



Ainericaji Histoiy 



Shaler, United 
States, I, I02- 
107, 127-130. 



Great Lake 
basin. 



Brigham, 

Geographic 

Influences, 

105-114. 

Shaler, 

United States, 

I, 119-127. 



The Atlantic 
slope. 

Winsor (ed.), 
America, 
IV. xxiii-xxx. 



nine thousand miles of navigable streams more than three 
feet in depth, draining an area of about a million and a 
quarter square miles of the finest land on the globe. With a 
fertile soil and abundant rainfall, except in the West, a climate 
that is marked by short, hot summers, and in the North by 
long severe winters, the Mississippi basin is to-day the great- 
est agricultural region in the world. In colonial times 
comparatively little use could be made of these characteristics 
because it was not easily accessible before the days of steam. 
Mountain ranges shut it off from the Atlantic coast. Falls 
and rapids in the St. Lawrence basin practically closed that 
avenue of approach. Access by way of the lower Mississippi 
was precluded because of the river current and the swamps 
on either side which made the banks uninhabitable except 
in places for a long distance from the Gulf. Since the 
middle of the eighteenth century, however, the Mississippi 
valley has been the scene of many of the most important 
conflicts in our history, and it has furnished the issues for 
numerous great national contests. 

North of the eastern Mississippi basin and the Atlantic 
slope is the basin of the Great Lakes, covering a compara- 
tively small territory aside from the w^ater area. Since it 
was closed to the outside world for one half the year, when 
the St. Lawrence was frozen over, and was inaccessible 
directly because of the rapids in the St. Lawrence River 
and Niagara Falls, the upper St. Lawrence basin was prac- 
tically unoccupied during the colonial period. The lower 
St. Lawrence basin, which is open to sea-going ships as 
far as Montreal, w^as the seat of a thriving colony, supported 
in large part by the fur trade with the interior. 

6. Influence of Geography on English Colonization. — 
All of the English colonies proper were confined to the 
Atlantic slope, w^hich offered many advantages to the settler. 
It was the most accessible part of the continent, being almost 
directly across from Europe ^ and offering shelter to the 



^ On account of the prevailing west winds in the north temperate zone 
and eastward direction of the north Atlantic currents, however, most of the 



Geographical Conditions 9 

pioneers because of its many harbors.' As far inland as the 
mountains the sloping character of the country, with the 
numerous short but navigable rivers, gave easy access to a 
region which was attractive and usually fertile. In the South 
the Atlantic slope was much broader than in the North. 
The valleys of Virginia and the Carolinas are broad and 
fertile. As the climate favored the growing of tobacco, 
rice, and cotton which can be raised most profitably on 
large plantations, a scattered agricultural population was in- 
evitable. In New EnglandAe stony clay soil of the narrow 
valleys was not well adapted for agriculture, w^hile the 
abundance of small but sheltered harbors made it desirable 
for the people to keep near the coast and give their attention 
to commerce. The middle section, in this as in most other 
respects, was a mean between the North and the South and 
partook of the characteristics of each. The magnificent har- 
bor of New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River and at 
the eastern extremity of the only low pass from the coast to 
the West, gave that location advantages over every other, 
and made it the natural commercial metropolis of the East. 

During the colonial period, however, there was little com- Communica- 
munication between New York and the interior because the *^°^ ^'^^ *^^ 
Iroquois controlled the Mohawk route and the French oc- 
cupied that part of the Great Lake basin beyond. Farther pa^rand 
south several passes permitted entrance to the Ohio valley. Basis of Amer. 
the key to the whole of that basin, the junction of the Al- History, 27-35. 
legheny and Monongahela, lying but a step beyond the last 
range of hills. Still farther south the great valley between 
the parallel ranges of the Appalachian mountains, and the 
gaps from that valley to the fertile region south of the Ohio 
River, made emigration to the West possible though not 
easy. 

The mountains were of special value to the colonies be- TheAppala- 
cause they could be crossed only with difficulty. They ^^/^" moan- 
afforded protection from attack from the interior and allowed 

early voyagers came by way of the Canaries and the West Indies, the trade 
winds blowing regularly from the east in that latitude. 



tarns. 



10 



American History 



Brigham, 

Geographic 

Influetices, 

76-89. 

Semple, Amer. 

Hist, and its 

Geographic 

Conditions, 

36-51- 

The great 

interior basins. 

Winsor (ed.), 
America, 
IV, xx-xxiii. 



Hold of the 
French on the 
interior. 



Farrand, 
Basis of Amer. 
History, 23-27. 



the English colonies to thrive in comparative peace, expand- 
ing with a natural and healthy growth into the foothills 
without danger of attack from their European rivals. The 
strength of the English colonies was to a great extent the 
result of compactness due partly to their agricultural and 
commercial pursuits, and in part also to the mountain 
barrier which confined them to the narrow sea border. 

7. Geographical Advantages of the French Colonies. — 
The territory occupied by the French presented marked 
contrast to that of the English. France was fortunate 
enough to gain possession of the two great basins — those 
of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi — which apparently 
were the gateways to the interior of the continent. Ap- 
parently, for it was by no means easy, as we have noticed, 
to pass from the lower St. Lawrence to the four great lakes 
beyond Niagara Falls, or to ascend the Mississippi as far as 
either of its important branches. Had the French been in 
search of homes, they could not easily have established them- 
selves in the lower St. Lawrence on account of the cold and 
the sterility of the soil, or have founded extensive colonies in 
the lower Mississippi valley because of the swampy, malarial 
condition of the country. Neither could they have pene- 
trated to the interior by either route readily had they been 
accompanied by their families and encumbered with house- 
hold necessities. 

With the French, however, actual colonization was always 
subordinate to their real work of exploring, trading, and 
occupying the country. For this task their geographical 
position was of the highest value. From Montreal, a trader, 
with comparatively little difficulty, might reach the valley 
of the Ohio, the basin of the upper Great Lakes, the Missis- 
sippi and its many branches, and the entire system of water- 
ways northwest of Lake Superior, because short portages 
over comparatively level spaces connected the waters of the 
three great interior basins of the continent, which two cen- 
turies ago formed probably the richest fur-bearing region on 
the globe. Where the trader might go, the soldier could 



Geographical Conditions 



II 



follow. In time, for both commercial and military reasons, 
posts were established at the points where important water- 
ways or paths joined, giving the French control of the region 
to which these ways penetrated. The skill shown in the 
selection of these points is apparent from a glance at the map. 
Notice the position of Montreal, Fort Frontenac, Fort 
Duquesne, Detroit, Fort St. Marie, Fort St. Joseph, Fort 



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BOflMAY ENG. CO, NY. 


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RIVERS AND PORTAGES OF THE UNITED STATES 

Heavy single lines show depth of i feet or more Double lines show portages 

Chartres, and New Orleans, and we cease to wonder why 
the French maintained a hold, slight to be sure, on the best 
part of the North American continent. 



The North American Indian 

8. The Indian Tribes. — A second influence during colo- 
nial times, less important than physiography, but consider- 
able nevertheless, was that exerted by the native races. 
There were no early settlers that did not come into contact Farrand, 
with the red man, to be helped by him or hindered because Basis of Atner. 



Numbers, 
customs, and 
organization. 



of his hostility. These savage hunters were especially 
numerous along the heavily timbered Atlantic slope, within 
easy reach of the great supply of fish on the one hand and 
the animals of the forest on the other. Although they had 



History, 
175- 



12 



American History 



Three great 
families. 



not reached a high degree of civilization, each tribe occupied 
a fairly definite territory which was rather extended because 

of the need of broad 
hunting grounds. 
Within the present limits 
of the United States, 
they numbered, at the 
beginning of the seven- 
teenth century, probably 
not more than a quarter 
million. 

Of the families en- 
countered by the French 
or English only three 
were particularly numer- 
ous or important, (i) 
Of these the Algonquins 
occupied much the 
largest territory, includ- 
ing most of the seacoast 
and the larger part of the 
upper basins of the Mis- 
sissippi and the Great Lakes. The tribes differed greatly from 
one another, those of the North and West being, as a rule, 
fiercer and more no- 
madic than their kins- 
men of the southeast, 
the Delawares of Penn- 
sylvania and the Pow- 
hatans of Virginia, for 
example. (2) The 
Iroquois family oc- 
cupied the basins of 
Lakes Erie and Ontario 
and the Mohawk valley, 
as well as a large dis- 
trict in the southern 




Indians 



MacNeil 




INDIAN FAMILIES 
ANU TKIBES 

(COLONIAL PERIOD) 



TJie Noi'th American Indian 13 

Appalachian region. It included the ''Five Nations" of 
New York whose political organization, the most per- 
fect of any north of Mexico, enabled them to conquer all 
their neighbors, either Iroquois or Algonquins, so that they 
often controlled the territory as far south as the Kenawha 
and as far west as the Wabash. Of great ability and cour- 
age unusual even among Indians, the Iroquois have left 
an impress on our history that is out of all proportion to 
their number. (3) From the Atlantic to the Mississippi, 
and from the Tennessee River south to the Gulf of Mexico, 
dwelt the Muskhogean family, of which the most numerous, 
ablest, and most civilized tribe was that called Creek. 

9. Life and Character of the Indians. — It is no part of Social 
our purpose to study the life and occupations of the Indian organization. 
except to appreciate his attitude toward the whites and un- 
derstand his influence on the colonization of America by P^rkman, 

struggle for 

Europeans. Livmg m villages that were often little more ^ continent, 
than headquarters for hunting expeditions and raids, the 460-464- 
Indians were not attached to the soil and removed their 
wigwams with ease. They found it difficult to fight success- Farrand, 
fully with the colonists, not alone because bows and arrows Histoty 
were no match for muskets, but because they were seldom 215-218, 
united. Each tribe had its own village and lived its own life 240-247- 
under chiefs who recognized no higher authority. This 
separateness prevented concerted movements, except when 
some great common danger united the tribes for a brief 
period. 

The character of the Indians has never been portrayed Stern 
better than by the master hand of Francis Parkman. He q^^^'^^^^. 
gives us this picture. "Nature has stamped the Indian 
with a hard and stern physiognomy. Ambition, revenge, 
envy, jealousy, are his ruling passions, and his cold tempera- 
mient is little exposed to those effeminate vices which are the 
bane of milder races. With him revenge is an overpower- 
ing instinct; nay, more, it is a point of honor and a duty. 
His pride sets all language at defiance. He loathes the 
thought of coercion, and few of his race have ever stooped 



14 



American History 



Indian 
trickiness. 



The race and 
civilization. 



Differences 
in Indian 
policy of the 
Spanish, 
French, and 
English. 



to discharge a menial office. A wild love of liberty, an utter 
intolerance of control, lie at the basis of his character, and 
fire his whole existence. . . . With him the love of glory 
kindles into a burning passion, and to allay its cravings, 
he will dare cold and famine, fire, tempest, torture, and 
death itself. 

"These generous traits are overcast by much that is dark, 
cold, and sinister, by sleepless distrust and rankling jealousy. 
Treacherous himself, he is always suspicious of treachery 
in others. Brave as he is, — and few of mankind are braver, 
— he will vent his passion by a secret stab rather than an 
open blow. His warfare is full of ambuscade and stratagem." 

''Some races of men seem molded in wax, soft and melt- 
ing, at once plastic and feeble. Some races, like some 
metals, combine the greatest fiexibihty with the greatest 
strength. But the Indian is hewn out of a rock. You can 
rarely change the form without destruction of the substance. 
Races of inferior energy have possessed the power of expan- 
sion and assimilation to which he is a stranger, and it is 
this fixed and rigid quality which has proved his ruin. He 
will not learn the arts of civilization and he and his forest 
must perish together.'! 

10. General Relations of Indians and Whites. — It was 
perhaps fortunate for the English that the Indian was inca- 
pable of civilization, for it prevented the mixing of the races. 
The Frenchmen tried intermarrying with the natives, adapt- 
ing themselves to the standards of the Indians; but the 
English, a colonizing race, failing to raise the Indian to a 
level somewhere near their own, treated them always as in- 
feriors. It was as impossible for the Englishman to make 
a boon companion of the Indian as it was for the Spaniard 
to respect his rights, so that both were obliged to suffer the 
loss of his help, which the Frenchman enjoyed. Yet in 
spite of the difference between the attitude of these three 
European races toward the red men, it was found that as a 
rule the Indians responded to the treatment they received. 
The old saying that an Indian never forgets and never 



The North American Indian 15 

forgives is full of meaning in our early history. The Span 
iarcl found to his cost that his cruelty was repaid wiih 
usury. He dared not venture into the interior unless his 
errand was purely one of peace and good will toward men, 
and it was with difficulty that he maintained on the coast a 
hold whose military character showed how feeble it really 
w^as. The English experienced the result of both kindness 
and folly. Without the friendship of the Indians some 
settlements must have perished, and without their hatred 
others would have expanded with much greater rapidity. 

II. Help given to the English by the Indians. — The General help 
dependence of the whites on the Indians was especially g'^entoaiiof 

^ the settlements 

marked in the early English settlements. Time after time, 
the settlers would have died of hunger but for the tood 
furnished by the natives. The first successful efforts of the 
colonists to raise a supply for themselves were but imitations 
of the crude Indian methods of agriculture. The Indians 
showed them how to plant maize in the half-cleared forests, 
how to fish through the ice, and how to trap game. They 
taught them to navigate the streams in birch-bark canoes. 
Clothing was made from skins after the Indian fashion. 
From the beginning the Indians exchanged valuable furs 
for trinkets, and the great development of the fur trade, which 
was a chief source of wealth in more than one American pos- 
session, was possible because the Indians brought so many 
pelts to the traders. Exploration of the interior would 
have been a very much slower process but for the use made 
of the numerous Indian trails and the help given by the 
Indian guides who led the way to the easiest portages. 

The Five Nations, or Six Nations as they became in 171 5, Aid given by 
exerted an exceptional influence on American history, the Six 
This was due to their location, their character, and their Nations. 
political organization. Occupying, as they did, the Mohawk 
valley and the territory south of Lake Ontario, they con- ^^^-^ o/Amer, 
trolled the southern route from the St. Lawrence River to History, 
the Great Lake basin and the Ohio valley, and the best route ^53-162. 
from the Atlantic coast into the interior. They became the 



i6 



American History 



Failure of 
uprisings 
against the 
colonists. 

Eggleston, 
in Ceniioy, 
XXVI (1883), 
697-704. 



Contests in 
the West after 
1750- 



persistent enemies of the French, because the French leaders 
in the St. Lawrence valley found it necessary to ally them- 
selves with the Indians of their section, who w^re traditional 
foes of the Five Nations. This made it easy for the Dutch, 
and later the English, in New York, to gain and retain the 
friendship of this powerful confederacy. This friendship 
was exceedingly valuable to the English, because the Iro- 
quois prevented the French from gaining possession of the 
Mohawk and Ontario valleys and from making inroads on 
the English settlements during the colonial wars. It also 
gave the English their first real claim to the land beyond 
the mountains, for the Iroquois by treaty transferred to the 
colonists the rights which they enjoyed as conquerors of the 
territory a long distance to the south and west. 

12. Results of Indian Wars. — Many of the other Indian 
tribes played an important part in the history of several 
colonies, although none of them exerted an influence equal 
to that of the "Six Nations" on the great struggle of Euro- 
peans for the possession of the continent. All of the Eng- 
lish colonies were undoubtedly more compact than they 
would have been without the danger of Indian attacks. Yet 
there was never an important contest between the settlers 
and the natives that was not won by the colonists. In every 
case the Indians were pushed back from the coast without 
great loss to the whites, and, in the case of one colony, 
Connecticut, the only tribe worthy of consideration was 
practically exterminated during the first five years of the 
colony. Later Indian uprisings like that of King Philip 
(§ 74) were just as disastrous to the natives. 

The Indians from the Alleghanies to the Mississippi pre- 
vented the rapid settlement of that region. From the time 
when the French surrendered to the English their claim to 
the Ohio valley and the basin of the Great Lakes (1763), 
it was necessary to establish boundary lines between the 
territory belonging to the Indians and that opened to settle- 
ment. In the terrible war known in history as the conspiracy 
of Pontiac (1763), during which the frontier suffered terri- 



The North American Indian 17 

bly from Maryland to Lake Huron, the Indians were united 
against the immigrants. During Washington's adminis- 
tration as president, several armies were defeated until 
General Anthony Wayne won a decisive victory and left the 
northwest frontier safe once more. The final contests with 
the Indian tribes came about the time of the second war 
with Great Britain, when in 181 1 General W. H. Harrison 
quelled the uprising of all the northern Indians under 
Tecumseh, and in 1814 General Andrew Jackson destroyed 
the encampment of the Creeks in the South. With the re- 
moval of the Indians to the Indian Territory soon after 1830 
and the occupation of Indian lands in the North (§ 271), 
the red man ceased to influence the history of the eastern 
United States. The Sioux and Apaches gave considerable 
trouble in the settlements of the West, but during the nine- 
teenth century Indian troubles were relatively insignificant. 

Europe during the Fifteenth Century 
13. Connection between the History of Europe and Dependence 
America. — It is scarcely too much to say that, during the °^ America on 

1 • 1 1 1 T r A • 1 Europe before 

three centuries which followed the discovery of America by ^^^^^ 
Columbus, the history of America was but a phase of Euro- 
pean history. If we wish to know why Columbus set out on 
his great voyage into unknown waters, why there was so 
much interest in exploring America, or why certain nations 
took part in colonizing movements, we must seek our answer 
in the history of the old world. The differences between the 
colonies of England and France, the final success of England 
in the struggle for possession of eastern North America, even 
the causes and results of both our wars with England, can 
be understood only when we know the situation in Europe 
during those years. It is not our desire to treat in this 
book the history of Europe during those formative centuries. 
Attention will be called at the proper places to the European 
events which exerted a direct influence on the development 
of this country. In these sections we shall consider briefly 
the situation in Europe during the fifteenth century, so that 



I8 



Ame}ican History 



The separate 

nations 

(1450-1490). 



we may appreciate what Europe was like four or five hun- 
dred years ago, and know why America was discovered and 
settled in the way that it was. 

14. Political Europe after 1450. — The Europe of the 
fifteenth century was essentially a modern Europe in its 
awakening tastes and desires, but a mediaeval Europe in 
the degree of its progress and development. The intellectual 
revival which became prominent after 1450, the renewed 




10 J^ 20 BOBMAY CNG. CO , 



Europe a.d. 1490 

interest in religious matters that followed in its wake, and 
the attempts to unite the little feudal dukedoms into which 
Europe was divided before 1400 were epoch-making move- 
ments that could not be completed in a few years. In 
the half century preceding the discovery of America, France 
had succeeded in unifying her different feudal provinces 
under comparatively powerful kings, and all of the little 
kingdoms of the Spanish peninsula, except Portugal, had 
been united under the joint rulers, Ferdinand and Isabella. 
But Spain was too much absorbed in subduing the nobility 



Europe during the Fifteenth Century 19 

and driving the Moors from Granada to devote much at- 
tention to outside interests, and France was more interested 
in showy conquest than in soHd development. The rest of 
the European countries were still much as they had been. 
Little Portugal and the cities of Italy were the most enter- 
prising and successful states at that time. Germany was 
divided into so many petty states that she frittered away 
her power and failed to exercise the influence which her geo- 
graphical position and natural resources might have given 
her. England was still a second-rate power even among 
the undeveloped nations of that day. Her agriculture was 
crude, her manufactures and commerce undeveloped, and 
her kingdom rent by the feuds of nobles until the strong 
rule of the Tudors established a monarchy worthy of the 
name. In Italy the pope still claimed the right to exercise 
temporal power, and his spiritual power was as yet recognized 
throughout western Europe, although soon to be denied by 
all of the northern nations. 

15. Trade with the East before 1475. — The intellectual Development 
sluggishness and commercial inactivity which were character- ^^ ^'^^^^ ''^^^^'" 

the crusades. 

istic of the middle ages were giving place in the fifteenth 
century to a renewed interest in learning, in industry, and 
in international commerce. The spirit of enterprise thus ^ . ' • ' 

^ '- oj Atnerica, 

aroused expressed itself in no way more emphatically than i, 274-292. 
by a desire to trade with the East, for the crusades had given 
the first insight into the wealth that lay beyond Constanti- 
nople and Jerusalem. Marco Polo and other travelers had 
brought back such glowing accounts of China and India 
that even the mysteries which seemed to pervade that distant 
portion of the globe were no longer suflScient to frighten 
away the timid travelers and merchants. Venice and 
Genoa, which had created a merchant marine by building 
ships to carry soldiers to the Holy Land, built up a trade of 
considerable proportions during the following centuries. 

Three routes were used most in carrying on with Asia a The three 
large and flourishing business in spices, silks, precious metals, *^^^^ routes, 
and gems. One of these followed the Black and Caspian 



20 



American History 



Cheyney, 

Europea?t 
Backgroimd, 

2.'2.-'2'J. 



The route 
around Africa. 



Fiske, Disc, 
of Afnerica, 
I- 316-334. 




seas, a second crossed Syria to the Euphrates, and the third 
used the Nile and the Red Sea, connecting them by caravan. 
With the capture of Constantinople by the Turks (1453) and 
the invasions of those fierce warriors into Syria and Egypt 
a little later, these routes were closed or made too dangerous 
for traveling, and trade disappeared; but neither the mer- 
chants who carried these precious articles nor the people 
of wealth who used them were willing to forego the desir- 
able and lucrative 
commerce with Asia. 
Effort was redoubled 
to find a new route to 
India. In this work 
the navigators trained 
by Genoa and Venice 
rendered valuable ser- 
vice in the employ of 
other countries, since 
the location of Venice 
and Genoa made it 
impossible for them to compete with the nations bordering 
on the Atlantic. 

16. Search for New Sea Routes to India. — Two ways 
seemed possible to the school of navigators of that time: 
the one around Africa, the other directly west across the 
Atlantic. Under the rule of the able Prince Henry of Portu- 
gal, the coast of Africa and the islands to the west had been 
explored by the Portuguese, the belief being that the Atlantic 
and Indian oceans joined south of Africa, and that if the 
southernmost point of the African continent were rounded, 
India could be reached with little difficulty. This was 
finally proved to be true, but only after great delays. The 
Cape of Good Hope was discovered by Bartholomew Diaz 
as late as 1487, and India was first reached by Vasco da 
Gama in 1498. 

The route to the West did not attract the same amount 
of interest or effort because every one dreaded to risk the 



MAIN BOUTES TO THE EAST 



Europe diirmg the Fifteenth Century 21 

dangers of the "sea of darkness." Many educated persons Ancient 
believed that the earth was spherical, but opinions as to its ^"^ mediaeval 

1 1 . , 1 ,- 1 * 1 • T 1 -1 views of the 

size and the width of the Atlantic were exceedingly varied, sphericity of 
Most of the views in fact were borrowed from the ancients, the earth, 
many of whose writings, after centuries of oblivion, were 
published during the fifteenth century. As early as the Fiske, Disc. 
sixth century before Christ, the Pythagoreans believed in the ofAtnenca, 
sphericity of the earth. In the fourth century before Christ ^.^s-.^iSi 
Aristotle had held that the earth was round and expressed 
the opinion that there was probably only one sea between 
Spain and India. A century later Eratosthenes computed 
the circumference of the earth at twenty-five thousand two 
hundred geographical miles and thought that the distance 
from Europe west to Asia was so great that there might 
be one or two continents in this unknown region. The 
great Roman geographer, Ptolemy, came much nearer the 
fact, estimating the circumference at twenty thousand four 
hundred geographical miles. These views of the ancients 
were known during the middle ages or were republished 
during the fifteenth century. One of the most remarkable 
of these new books was a kind of encyclopedia of geographi- 
cal knowledge which was published in 1409 under the title 
of Imago Mimdi, and contained many of the Greek and 
Roman beliefs. A copy of this book was owned and care- 
fully studied by Christopher Columbus, who accepted the 
view that the earth was round. But Columbus believed it 
to be much smaller than it is and thought that the Atlantic 
Ocean was comparatively narrow. 

17. Summary. — During colonial times three chief Geography, 
influences on our history were physiography, the Indians, 
and conditions in Europe. The moderate temperature and 
adequate rainfall adapted the Atlantic coast and the Missis- 
sippi basin particularly to the support of life. Cod and corn 
were used chiefly as food. The abundance of furs in the 
interior, and of silver in Mexico, and the ease with which 
tobacco was grown in Virginia, influenced greatly the per- 
manent settlement in each of those regions. Because of its 



22 



American History 



accessibility almost all of the early settlements were made on 
the Atlantic coast, England gaining control of the slope and 
estabhshing compact settlements on the harbors or in the 
narrow valleys of the North and plantations in the broader 
valleys of the South. The mountains hindered expansion 
into the interior, but prevented attacks by other nations or 
the Indians from behind. As the French desired trade, 
they gained a slight hold on the Mississippi and St. Lawrence 
valleys by occupying strategic points. 
The Indians. The Indians were friendly to most of the early colonists 

and helped them by giving them food and teaching them how 
to live in a wilderness. Their hostility at a later time was due 
either to the cruelty of the settlers or to the encroachments of 
the whites on their hunting grounds. Only one family, the Iro- 
quois, resisted the advance of the whites successfully. These 
warriors kept off the French and usually aided the Enghsh 
because the latter did not care to penetrate so far inland. 
Influence of Until after the Revolutionary War, American history was 

Europe. Y\\\{^ more than a phase of European history. At the time 

America was discovered, Europe was composed of partly 
united kingdoms like France or Spain or of decentralized 
feudal states like Germany. The only wealthy countries 
were those that had engaged in commerce since the crusades. 
Venice and Genoa were most prominent, but the closing of 
the eastern trade routes destroyed most of their trade. The 
future belonged to the nations bordering on the Atlantic, 
first to Spain and Portugal, which were already aroused to 
the possibilities of commerce, and later to the more slowly 
developing French, English, and Dutch nations. 



TOPIC 

The Iroquois Confederacy: Larned (ed.), "History for Ready 
Reference," I, pp. 89-92 ; Fiske, "Discovery of America," I, pp. 66- 
77, II, pp. 530-531; Lee (ed.), "History of North America," II, 

pp. 143-153- 

STUDIES 

I. Western Europe and American exploration. (Semple, "Ameri- 
can History and its Geographic Conditions," pp. 1-18.) 



Conditions Affecting Colonization 23 

2. Influence of the triangular shape of North America on its ex- 
ploration. (Cf. Fiske, "Discovery of America," II, Chapter XII.) 

3. Fur trade and fisheries. (Weeden, "New England," I, 
pp. 129-135.) 

4. The great Appalachian valley. (Scmple, "American History 
and its Geographic Conditions," pp. 54-61.) 

5. The Hudson-Mohawk route. (Brigham, "Geographic In- 
fluences in American History," pp. 3-26.) 

6. French use of portages. (Semple, "American History and its 
Geographic Conditions," pp. 27-31.) 

7. Indian policy of French and English. (Parkman, " Struggle 
for a Continent," pp. 256-264.) 

8. Indian warfare and captives. (Eggleston, Century, XXVI 
(18S3), pp. 704-718.) 

9. Pontiac's conspiracy. (Parkman, "Struggle for a Continent," 

PP- 473-513-) 

10. Consolidation of France. (Duruy,"Modern Times," pp. 8-26.) 

11. Unification of Spain. (Cheyney, "European Background," 
pp. 81-96.) 

12. Commerce of Venice. (Brown, "Venetian Republic" 
(Temple Primers), pp. 44-65, 75-81.) 

13. Henry the Navigator. (Cheyney, "European Background," 
pp. 62-69.) 

QUESTIONS 

1. Make an outline showing the character of the soil, tempera- 
ture, and rainfall of each of the following geographical divisions: 
lower St. Lawrence, upper St. Lawrence, north Atlantic slope, south 
Atlantic slope. Gulf region, central Mississippi basin. 

2. Make a (companion) outline for the same divisions showing 
the accessibility, food supply, defensibility, and resources. 

3. Mention some of the conflicts of national importance that 
have taken place in the Mississippi valley. What are some of the 
national issues furnished by the West ? 

4. What was the influence of the Appalachian mountains on the 
expansion of the English colonies and the struggle for the interior? 

5. Locate Niagara, Duquesne, Detroit, Ste. Marie, New Orleans. 
What waterways or trails did they control ? What portages ma de it 
easy to pass from the basin of the Great Lakes to that of the Missis- 
sippi ? 

6. Would the task of colonizing America have been easier had 
there been no native races? 

7. Cite at least eight instances before 1775 when events in Eng- 
land influenced American history. Trace the influence. Do the 
same with three events in America that influenced England. 



CHAPTER II 

THE FIRST CENTURY (1492-1600) 



English Rulers 



Henry VII (1485-1509) 
Henry VIII (1509-1547) 
Edward VI (i547-i553) 



Mary (1553-1558) 
Elizabeth (1558-1603) 



The Discovery of a New World 

Columbus 18. Preparation of Columbus. — Christopher Columbus 

in Portugal and ^^g j^Qj-n near Genoa, before the middle of the fifteenth 

^^''^"' century. His parents were poor and he had comparatively 

few early advantages. Before reaching manhood he began 




Channing, 
United States, 
I, 14-20. 



TOSCANELLI'S MAP 

(Showing location of tlie Americas in clotteJ linesj 

his career as a sailor, spending part of his time when ashore 
studying navigation or geography and making maps. For 
several years he resided in Lisbon, the chief center of com- 
mercial activity in western Europe. While there he wrote 
to an Italian philosopher, ToscaneUi, asking him for infor- 
mation regarding a direct voyage to India. ToscaneUi 



1492] 



The Discovery of a New World 



25 



replied, suggesting that Japan could be reached by sailing 
directly west, and inclosing a map according to which Japan 
was less than four thousand miles from Spain. Later 
Columbus asked the king of Portugal to aid him in making 
this voyage, but the monarch gave him no encouragement. 
Subsequently Colum- 
bus entered the service 
of Spain, endeavoring 
for several years to 
get governmental aid 
for his enterprise. 
But the times were 
unpropitious, for 
Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella WTre making a 
final effort to drive 
the Moors from the 
southern part of the 
peninsula. This was 
accomplished in 1492, 
and that same year 
they made an agree- 
ment to furnish the vessels for the expedition, to give Colum- 
bus absolute power as viceroy over the territories discovered, 
and to allow him one tenth of all the wealth obtained through 
his explorations. 

19. Columbus's First Voyage. — On August 3, 1492, he 
set sail from Palos with three caravels, the largest of which 
was less than one hundred feet in length. After a delay at 
the Canary Islands, the little fleet started out into unknown 
waters. In midocean they encountered a vast mass of weeds 
now known as the ''Sargasso Sea." Going to the north of 
this, they proceeded westward, constantly finding indications 
of land. Great numbers of birds were seen, and as most of 
these proceeded southwest, Columbus was persuaded to 
change his course. In the early morning, October 12, land 
was sighted, and at daybreak Columbus landed on one of 




Bourne, 
Spain in 
A tn eric a, 
8-19. 

Winsor (ed.), 
America, 
II, 1-9 



Columbus 



Crossing 
the Atlantic. 

Hart, Contem- 
poraries, I, 
No. 17. 
Channing, 
United States^ 
I, 20-23. 

Bourne, 
Spain in 
America, 
20-23. 



26 



American History 



[1492 



A771. Histojy 
Leaflets, No. i. 



The return 
voyage. 



the easternmost of the Bahama Islands. Had he continued 
west, he would have been borne still farther north by the Gulf 
Stream and have reached the coast of the United States. 

After visiting several islands of the Bahamas, Columbus 
coasted along the shores of Cuba and reached San Domingo, 
where his largest vessel was wrecked and a garrison left. 
The return voyage was marked by a severe storm which 




Columbian Expositibn Model 

A Caravel 



Bourne, 
Spain in 
Ame?'ica, 
23-28. 

Papal bull 
and treaty of 
Tordesillas.' 



Hart, Contem- 
poraries, 
I, No. 18. 



Bourne, 
Spain in 
America, 
29-32. 



separated the vessels, but, after many experiences, both 
reached Palos on the same day, March 15, 1493. The 
Spanish monarchs received the discoverer with every mark 
of esteem and he was treated with almost royal honors. 

20. The Pope's Division of the Earth. — As soon as 
Columbus returned to Spain, King Ferdinand sent at once 
to Rome and requested that Pope Alexander VI confirm 
his title to the lands discovered in the west. The pontiff 
accordingly issued a decree in which he proclaimed that 
Spain was entitled to the lands lying west of the meridian 
which was one hundred leagues west from any of the islands 
commonly called the Azores or Cape Verde. The right to 
heathen lands lying east of this line was confirmed to Por- 
tugal, whose claims to territories discovered in Africa had 
already been recognized by the Holy See. As Portugal was 



1496] 



TJie Discovery of a New World 



27 



dissatisfied with this division of the globe, negotiations were 
begun at once with Spain which ended in the treaty of Tor- 
desillas, signed June 7, 1494. The Hne of demarcation was 
to be drawn three hundred and seventy leagues west of the 
Cape Verde Islands. 

This line did not touch North America, but was not far 
east of the country discovered by the Cabots in 1497 (§ 22), 
so that in 1500 the Cortereal brothers explored the coasts 
of Newfoundland and Labra- 
dor with the hope that they 
might be claimed by Portugal. 
On the other hand, a large 
part of South America lay east 
of the line, and when in 1500 
a Portuguese, Cabral, on his 
way to the Cape of Good Hope, 
accidentally sighted the coast 
of what is now Brazil, the way 
was open to the establishment 
of a Portuguese colony in the 
new world. On the other side 
of the world Portugal had an 
undisputed claim to most of the 
islands, but Spain gained pos- 
session of the Philippines before it was learned that they 
were located in Portugal's half of the globe. This papal 
division was ignored of course by many of the other nations. 

21. Later Voyages of Columbus. — Columbus did not 
remain long in Spain after his first voyage, because of 
the danger that Portugal would send out a fleet to seize the 
lands which he had discovered. The equipment for the 
second voyage was a marked contrast to that of the first. 
A large fleet carried nearly fifteen hundred persons, among 
them many nobles in search of wealth. A number of the 
West India islands, including Porto Rico and Jamaica, were 
visited and a Spanish colony established on Hispaniola (San 
Domingo). 




Fiske, Disc, 
of America, 
I, 453-460. 



Influence of the 
division. 

Bourne, 
Spain in 
America, 
63-66, 73-75. 



Second 
voyage. 



Larned (ed.) 
Ready Re/., 
I, 50-51- 



2S 



American History 



[1496 



Third 
voyage. 

Bourne, 
Spain in 
America, 
46-53- 

Fiske, Disc, 
of America, 
I, 488-503. 



Fourth voyac 

Fiske, Disc, 
of America, 
I. 503-513- 



Voyages, 
1497-1498. 



A7n. History 
Leaflets, 
No. 9. 

Charming, 
United States, 
I. 33-37- 



Bourne, 
Spain in 
America, 
54-61. 



Old South 
Leaflets, 
No. 37. 



Columbus returned to Spain in 1496 and did not start on 
his third voyage until two years later. On this expedition he 
first saw the mainland of South America, near the mouth of 
the great Orinoco River. Soon after a special envoy was 
sent from Spain to investigate the charges of misgovernment 
which had been brought against Columbus as governor, and 
he was arrested without delay. On his return to Spain in 
chains, the monarchs disavowed the action of their repre- 
sentative, but Columbus never regained the authority thus 
taken from him. 

His fourth and last voyage in 1502 brought him to the coast 
of Central America, although he still believed he was off the 
coast of the Indies. His later years were full of bitterness, 
for he proved to be incompetent for the great task of gov- 
erning a colony, and being harsh in dealing with natives he 
made enemies who succeeded in stripping him of his honors. 
He died in 1506, obscure and neglected, without knowing 
that he had led the way to a new world, which was 
separated from Asia by an ocean larger than the Atlantic. 

22. The Cabots were merchants of Bristol, England, at 
the time news was brought that Columbus had discovered 
land by saihng wxst. In 1496 John Cabot obtained from 
Henry VII a permit to sail westward. The permit was not 
used until the next year, and it was June 24, 1497, when the 
Cabots sighted land in the neighborhood of Newfoundland. 
Six weeks later they were back in England, where the king 
made a gift of £\o '' to hym that founde the newe isle." In 
1498 a much larger expedition set out. The coast from Lab- 
rador to Cape Cod w^as explored, and many persons believe 
that the Cabots continued on their southern course until the 
capes off North Carolina were reached. No attempt was 
made to follow up these voyages, John Cabot probably having 
died and his son Sebastian having entered the service of Spain. 
But several generations later, when England desired to estab- 
lish a legal claim to the eastern part of North America, 
these voyages of discovery were deemed of the first impor- 
tance. 



I54I] 



The Discovery of a Neiv World 



29 




Voyages of 
Vespucius. 



Bourne, 
Spain in 
A7nerica, 
84-96. 



Old South 
Leaflets, 
Nos. 34, 90. 



AMEKICA, 1515 

(Frum Schoner's Globe) 



23. Vespucius and the Naming of America. — Americus 

Vespucius, or Amerigo Vespucci, like Columbus and the 

Cabots, was an Italian. In 1504 

he wrote a letter telling about 

" Four voyages " that he claimed 

to have made to the new world 

while in the employ of Spain. He 

reported that on the earliest of 

these (in 1497) he had discovered 

South America and that on his 

later voyages he had explored 

the coast of that region. Many 

modern investigators consider the 

claims of Vespucius ridiculous, but 

it is certain that they were believed by at least some of 

his contemporaries. 

Among these was Martin Waldseemiiller, a professor 
of geography at the college 
of Saint-Die in Lorraine. In 
1507 WaldseemuUer published 
a pamphlet entitled Cosmogra- 99-103- 
phie Introductio, in which he 
suggested that the land in the 
southwest, which did not cor- 
respond to any islands on the 
maps existing before 1492, and 
which for several years had been 
known as Mondo Novo, should 
be called ''America." This 
name became quite common on 
maps of the time before it was 
learned that this southern region 
formed a continent connected 
with lands discovered by the 
Cabots and others at the North. 

When this connection was understood, the name America 

was applied naturally to the whole of the new world. 




First use of 
name America. 



Bourne, Spain 
in America, 



Winsor (ed.). 
America, II, 
145-152. 



AMERICA. 1541 

(From Meroator's Map) 



30 



American History 



[1513 



Discovery of 
the Pacific, 
1513- 



Channing, 
Ujiited States, 
I. 47-51- 



Magellan, voy- 
age around the 
globe. 



Channing, 
United States, 
I, 50-54- 



Ponce de Leon 
(1513-1521). 



Bourne, Spain 
in America, 
133-136. 
Winsor (ed.), 
America, 
II, 232-236. 



24. The Pacific Ocean. — Little was known yet about 
this new world, but in the decade beginning with 15 13 
geographical knowledge of the uncivilized hemisphere was 
extended greatly. It was in the year 15 13 that Balboa, an 
adventurer and a rebel, in search of gold, crossed the Isth- 
mus of Panama and first beheld the waters of the Pacific, 
which he called the "South Sea," because the shore line 
runs east and west at this point. 

Six years later Fernando Magalhaens or Magellan, a 
Portuguese nobleman in the employ of Spain, started with 
five vessels to find a southwest passage through South 
America to the Indies. In this he succeeded, the strait 
which he discovered now bearing his name. With but two 
vessels he proceeded north a long distance, then changed 
his course to the northwest, and finally to the west, in 
order not to pass the Molucca or Spice Islands, of which he 
was in search and whose latitude he knew. After weeks on 
the quiet ocean, which he named the Pacific, he reached what 
is probably the Island of Guam, and soon after landed on 
the Philippines. Here Magellan lost his life, April 27, 
1 52 1. The larger vessel was soon after captured by the 
Portuguese, but the smaller succeeded in reaching Spain 
after circumnavigating the globe — certainly one of the 
most marvelous voyages in history, and one which caused 
remarkable changes in the geographical ideas of the times. 

Explorations in the United States (15 13-1543) 

25. Florida (1513-1536). — For thirty years the Spanish 
made repeated efforts to explore the southern part of the 
United States, rumors of gold constantly leading them into 
the interior. The first to show the way to Florida, a name 
applied for at least a century to the entire southeastern part 
of the United States, was Ponce de Leon, who was attracted 
by the reports of an excellent climate and prospects of wealth. 
In 1 5 13 he explored both the east and the west coast of the 
peninsula and in 1521 attempted a settlement which failed 
because of the hostility of the Indians. 



1542] Explorations in the United States 31 

In 1526 a much more pretentious settlement was attempted Ayiion's settie- 

by d'Ayllon. Over five hundred persons, including some "^^"* (1526). 

slaves, were taken to Chesapeake Bay, but the climate was ^jj^g^j. .^^ ^ 

so unhealthy that they lost their leader and more than one- America, 

half of their men within a year, and the enterprise was 11,238-241. 
abandoned. 

The next to search for wealth in Florida was de Narvaez, Narvaez and 

who landed near Tampa Bay in 1528. The last survivors Cabeza de 

of this ill-fated expedition were wrecked some months later 

on the coast of Texas, where they were held as prisoners ^y !^"5' / 

for several years. Under the lead of Cabeza de Vaca, who 1,62-67. 

had been employed as a "medicine man," four of them Winsor (ed.), 

escaped and crossed the plains and mountains to the Spanish '"^^^'^<^, 

1 1 240-244. 

settlements on the Gulf of California, bringing with them oid South 

rumors of large quantities of gems and precious metals to Leaflets, 

the north of the countries they had traversed and arousing ii. N0.39. 

renewed interest in the exploration of the interior. 

26. The Southwest (1539-1543). — To ascertain the truth Coronado's ex- 

of the reports that the ''Seven Cities of Cibola" were pos- pedition (1540- 

sessed of great wealth. Fray Marcos was sent ''to spy out 

the land." He failed to reach the cities, but brought back Hart, Contem- 

stories more wonderful than any that had yet been told, poraries, 

In a short time, Coronado at the head of three hundred ', ' ^'^' 

' Channing, 

Spaniards, many of them mounted, and nearly a thousand United states, 

Indians, set out for Cibola (1540). The cities proved to be 1.74-84- 

nothing but the unattractive dwellings of Pueblos, but there i^o^me, Spain 

• 11 1 1 <• 1 1 r 1 1 1 ^"^ America, 

was said to be a great deal of gold farther north and east. 169-174. 

A force was dispatched to investigate a great canon to the Amer. Hist. 

west, — that of the Colorado, — and Coronado's little army Leaflets, 
then pushed on across the plateau and plains until Quivera 
was reached, probably in the present state of Kansas. They 
found immense herds of bison and trackless wastes, but 
no gold. In disappointment the Spaniards returned to 
Mexico. 

Among the many explorers who at this time were inter- coast of Cali- 

ested in the country north of the Spanish settlements was fomia. 
Cabrillo. Setting out in 1542 with two vessels, he and his 



32 



American History 



[1539 



Hittell, 6«//- 
fornia,\,Tyj^. 



Explorations in 
the southeast 
(1539-1543)- 



Hart, Contem- 
poraries, 
I, No. 23. 



Charming, 
Utiited States, 
I, 67-72. 

Bourne, .'yi^z/w 
in America, 
162--168. 



Winsor (ed.), 
Afnerica, 
II, 244-254. 



Verrazano's 
voyage (1524). 

Bourne, Spain 
in America, 
143-145- 
Winsor (ed.), 
America, 
IV. 5^- 

Cartier's explo- 
rations and set- 
tlements 
(I535-I54I)- 



successor Ferrelo examined the western coast beyond Cape 
Mendocino with considerable care. Nothing came of this 
or of the other explorations in the West, and it was a half 
century before any permanent Spanish missions were estab- 
lished within the United States, and a still longer time before 
the region proved attractive to less unselfish settlers. 

27. De Soto. — The last, and in some respects the greatest, 
of these early Spanish explorers in the United States was 
Fernando de Soto. Having served under the Pizarros when 
they conquered the country of the Incas, he was anxious 
to gain for himself fame and fortune in Florida, as Cortez 
had done in Mexico and the Pizarros in Peru. With a well- 
equipped force of nearly six hundred men and many horses, 
he landed at Tampa Bay during the summer of 1539. The 
Indians were treated with severity, the chief of each tribe 
visited being seized and held as hostage until provisions were 
forthcoming and his country had been crossed. For two 
years the Spaniards continued their search through the in- 
hospitable country without discovering traces of the wealth 
they sought and at length crossed the Mississippi. After 
further wanderings, broken and discouraged, Soto returned 
to the river to die (May, 1542). Nowhere had he found gold 
or signs of gold, and everywhere the Indians were fierce and 
hostile. Glad to escape from this land of dangers, the sur- 
vivors of Soto's party, after several attempts, succeeded in 
getting out of the Mississippi and reached the Mexican 
coast settlements. 

28. Verrazano and Cartier. — Although far behind the 
Spanish in a desire to explore and colonize, the French 
were not entirely inactive. In 1524 the French sent out 
Verrazano, an Italian like many of the other navigators of 
that day, who visited the eastern coast of North America 
and explored from the capes of North Carolina to Newfound- 
land, probably entering New York harbor. 

Ten years later Cartier explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 
returning in 1535 and ascending the river. He penetrated 
as far as the large island just below the first series of rapids. 



1560] Explorations in the United States 33 

To the height on this island he gave the name Mont Real.^ Hart, Contem- 

No attempt was made to found a colony at this time, but in poraries, 

1 540-1 54 1, he and an associate, Roberval, sought to settle on ' °* 
the banks of the St. Lawrence. Roberval failed to aid 

Cartier until the latter had abandoned his settlement, and ^'i"sor (ed.), 

the French hold on America after this time was represented jy 47.55. 
by a few fishermen's huts on the Atlantic coast. 

The Close of the Sixteenth Century 

29. The Situation in Europe. — During the early part Spain, 
of the sixteenth century Spain had risen to the position 
of the first European power. Her king was ruler not only Schwili, Mod- 
of the Spanish peninsula, but of the Netherlands, the Sicilies, ^^^ Europe, 
and a large part of America. As he was in addition emperor 
of Germany, the rule of Charles V was in consequence one 
of unusual splendor. The immense riches of Mexico and 
Peru added greatly to this power of Spain, but could not 
continue to sustain it, for the successor of Charles, Philip II, 
followed an unwise policy which undermined the sources 
of national strength. Freedom of thought was crushed 
by the inquisition, the Netherlands were lost by an unwise 
religious policy, while the Jews and Moors, the industrial 
backbone of the nation, were driven from Spain. The 
decline of Spanish power became evident in the latter 
half of the sixteenth century, and, after the defeat of the 
Armada in 1588, was rapid and continuous, 

France was in no position during these years to accom- France, 
plish much at home or abroad. Torn with the strife between 
the Catholics and the Huguenots, governed nominally by 
the worthless sons of Henry II and ruled really by the faction 
which was temporarily in the ascendant, she followed no Robinson, 
fixed policy until the accession of the able Henry IV in 1589. ^^^^ ^'^^_ " 

England meanwhile under Elizabeth was quietly develop- England, 
ing her resources and settling her religious differences. 
As yet neither an industrial nor a commercial nation, and, 

* Mount Royal. 



34 



American History 



[1562 



Robinson, 
Western Eu- 
rope, 458-463. 



Port Royal 

(1562). 

Channing, 
United States, 
I, 94-96. 



Fort Caroline. 
Menendez. 



Channing, 
United States, 
I, 96-100. 



Hart, Co7item- 
poraries, 
I, No. 36. 



Fiske, Disc, 
of America, 
11,512-521. 



Bourne, Spain 
in America, 
176-189. 



as an international power, inferior to Spain and France, 
she gave encouragement to the seamen of the southern coast 
who engaged in trade with the Spanish colonies, and aided 
merchants who desired to form an East India company to 
trade with the far East. Elizabeth in fact permitted Sir 
Francis Drake and others to capture Spanish merchantmen 
and treasure ships in time of peace, thus developing that 
irregular navy which in 1588 harassed and in the end de- 
stroyed the unwieldy Spanish Armada. With Spain's navy 
crippled, the Dutch seized upon the greater part of the carry- 
ing trade of Europe. 

30. The French in Florida (1562-1565). — Under the 
auspices of the great Protestant leader. Gasper de Coligny, 
two settlements were attempted in the southern part of the 
United States in the land named Florida and claimed by 
the Spanish. The first of these was made in 1562 by Jean 
Ribaut at Port Royal, a little north of the Savannah River^ 
but the next year the colonists constructed a ship, abandoned 
the colony, and reached Europe after a terrible voyage. 

In 1564 a second settlement was started by Laudonniere 
on the river of May, now called the St. Johns, where they 
built a fort named Caroline in honor of their king, Charles 
IX. Most of the settlers were men of broken fortunes and 
adventurers. Untrained to labor and desiring only gold, 
they quarreled with one another and with the Indians, some 
of them at length turning pirates and betraying to the Span- 
ish the presence of the little colony. Meanwhile the settlers 
prepared to abandon the colony, but before they were ready 
to sail, two fleets arrived off the coast of Florida: the first, 
French, under Ribaut bringing relief; the second, Spanish, 
under Menendez, threatening destruction. Before Menen- 
dez, a man of great vigor and earnestness, heard of the 
French colony, he had been expecting to secure a grant 
of Florida and colonize that region . When he learned of the 
Protestant settlement, he applied to Philip II who helped him 
fit a great expedition for what they considered a crusade. Find- 
ing the French fort and fleet too strong to attack, he disem- 



1583] The Close of the Sixteenth Century 35 

barked his men and constructed a fort which he named St. 
Augustine (1565). The elements now favored him, for Ri- 
baut's fleet was scattered and his ships wrecked by a great 
storm. Menendez immediately marched overland through the 
swamps, attacked Fort Caroline, which was practically unpro- 
tected, and put the inhabitants to the sword. Three different 
parties from Ribaut's fleet who had been wrecked on the coast 
south of St. Augustine were obliged to throw themselves on 
Menendez's mercy. Most of them were foully slain. This 
ended the settlements of the French in the southern part of 
North America, for King Charles of France was not fond 
of the Huguenots and was completely under the domination of 
Philip, but it did not close the warfare between the French 
and the Spaniards, for two years later de Gourgues destroyed 
the Spanish forts in Florida and hanged the defenders. 

31. The English m the New World (1562-1583). — Hawkins and 
Numerous Englishmen were interested in the new world Drake, 
because of its commercial possibilities. The earliest of these. 
Sir John Hawkins, engaged in the slave trade with the Channing, 
Spanish West Indies. On the third of these voyages his ^^^^^^^J^^^"' 
ships were attacked, treacherously he thought, by Spanish 
officials. With him on this trip was his cousin, Sir Francis 

, , . , ^ , . ,.. , • . r Fiske, C/rt' Vir. 

Drake, who from this time devoted his life to the injury of ^/^^^^ l^ is-2-'&. 
Spain. With the consent of Elizabeth, Drake raided the 
Spanish main and in 1577 sailed into the Pacific Ocean, where ^^^^ Contem- 
he captured treasure ships on the way from Peru to Panama, pomries, 
Continuing northward until turned back by the cold, he i.Nos. 29, 30. 
returned to a harbor near San Francisco bay, where he re- 
fitted his vessel. The western part of the continent he 
named New Albion, claiming it for England. Returning to 
England via the East Indies and Africa, he brought back 
reports which aroused new interest in finding a northwest 
passage to the East. 

Frobisher had already (1576) searched for a northwest The northwest 
passage and Davis made three voyages (1585-1587) for the Passage, 
same purpose. The most earnest advocate of settlement in 
northern America and of search for a way to Cathay was Sir 



36 



American History 



[1584 



Woodward, 
British Etn- 
pire, 39-49, 

The first colony 
(1585)- 

Charming, 
United States, 
I, 124-128. 



Fiske, Old Vir- 
ginia, I, 3c^33. 



The " lost 

colony" 

(1587-1590)- 

Fiske, Old Vir- 
ginia, I, 35-39. 

Channing, 
United States, 
I, 128-133. 



Humphrey Gilbert, who tried to form a colony on Newfound- 
land in 1583. The attempt was abandoned and on the 
return voyage Gilbert's vessel foundered. 

32. The Ralegh Colonies (1584-1590). — The next year 
Sir Walter Ralegh dispatched to America Captains Amadas 
and Barlow, with instructions to investigate and report the 
possibilities of colonization. So glowing was their report 
that Queen Elizabeth named the country Virginia in her 
own honor. The succeeding spring (1585) seven vessels 

set sail carrying over one 
hundred settlers, whose 
leader was Ralph Lane. 
They landed at Roanoke 
Island, off the coast of what 
is now North Carolina, but 
before the ships returned 
to England the commander 
of the fleet maltreated the 
natives, thus alienating tribes 
whose friendship would have 
been of the greatest value. 
As the colonists would not 
work, and could obtain no 
food from the now hostile Indians, they gladly took ad- 
vantage of the arrival of Sir Francis Drake and returned 
to England. 

Ralegh's devotion to his pet scheme led him to form a 
company which in 1587 sent out a new expedition carrying 
women as well as men. Their destination was Chesapeake 
Bay, but they repaired first to Roanoke, where they decided 
to remain. Governor White of this " City of Ralegh," 
as the colony was called, returned to England for help later 
in the summer, but the ships sent out w^ith supplies were 
used to prey upon Spanish commerce, with disastrous re- 
sults. Then came the Armada (1588) which called forth 
the naval strength of England. Another year was frittered 
away by the men to whom Ralegh, now impoverished, 




Sir Walter Ralegh 



i6oo] 



The First Centiuy 



37 



assigned his Virginia patent, and when in 1590 assistance 
arrived, no trace could be found of the '4ost colony." Thus 
inauspiciously did the English begin the colonization of the 
new world. 

33. The Results of the First Century. — In the century 
following the discovery of America by Columbus the advance 
in geographical knowledge had been enormous. The shape 
of the earth had been proved beyond dispute and its size 
quite accurately ascertained. There was no longer a sea of 
darkness, but two immense oceans had been crossed ; in the 
case of the Atlantic, repeatedly. A new continent had been 
brought to light, of which to be sure little was known except 
the shore lines. Almost every part of the eastern Atlantic 



Discovery and 
exploration. 




AND o 

SETTLEMENTS <:> 20- 
DURINQ THE ^ 

SIXTEENTH CENTURY ^' .y 

European Settlementa X 



coast had been explored by Europeans and the western 
coast nearly as far north as the Oregon River had been ex- 
amined. The interior of the North American continent had 
been visited by but two leaders — Coronado and Soto — 
and the heart of the continent was little better known in 
1600 than a half century earlier. Search had been stimu- 
lated, however, because of a desire to find a water passage 



colonization. 



38 American History [1492- 

from the Atlantic to the Pacific which would make it pos- 
sible to sail from Europe west to Asia without going as far 
south as the Straits of Magellan. More than any other one 
cause, this desire led in the following century to the investi- 
gation of the waterways in the new world. 
Attempted South of the present limits of the United States, Portugal 

had established a colony and Spain had taken possession of 
several islands and many Indian countries. Within the 
United States the repeated attempts to form colonies had 
led to the establishment of but two permanent settlements — 
the insignificant Spanish fortifications at St. Augustine and 
the little frontier mission at Santa Fe. Considering the 
amount of money and effort expended, the results were dis- 
couraging indeed. In striking contrast to the Hmited ter- 
ritory occupied by Europeans at the close of the sixteenth 
century were the sweeping territorial claims of the rival 
nations. Spain asserted her right to a territory of continental 
extent. France claimed the northeastern coast and that part 
of the interior drained by the St. Lawrence River, and Eng- 
land asserted her right to the eastern part of North America, 
because of the Cabot discoveries, and to the western coast 
by virtue of Drake's exploration. 

TOPICS 

Columbus's Efforts to gain Help (1484-1492): Adams, 
"Columbus," pp. 34-73; Fiske, "Discovery of America," I, pp. 381- 

385, 395-419- 

The Voyages of the Cabots: Winsor (ed.), "America," III, 
pp. 1-7; Fiske, "Discovery of America," II, pp. 1-16; Lee (ed.), 
"History of North America," I, pp. 297-309. 

Magellan's Voyage around the World: Bourne, "Spain in 
America," pp. 115-132; Winsor (ed.), "America," II, pp. 591-613; 
Fiske, " Discovery of America," II, 185-205. 

STUDIES 

1. The character of Columbus (criticisms). (Winsor, "Colum- 
bus," pp. 499-512.) 

2. Origin of the name "America." (Fiske, "Discovery of 
America," II, pp. 129-155.) 



i6oo] The First Century 39 

3. Cortez in Mexico. (Fiske, "Discovery of America," II, pp. 

245-293-) 

4. The wanderings of Cabeza de Vaca. (Lummis, "Spanish 
Pioneers," pp. 101-116.) 

5. Coronado's explorations. (Johnson, "Pioneer Spaniards," 
pp. 219-253.) 

6. Spain's colonial policy. (Bourne, "Spain in America," pp. 
202-219.) 

7. Spain's American commercial policy. (Bourne, "Spain in 
America," pp. 282-298.) 

8. Verrazano's voyage. ("Old South Leaflets," No. 17.) 

9. Religious wars in France. (Duruy, "History of Modern 
Times," pp. 218-234.) 

10. Destruction of the French colony in Florida (1565). (Park- 
man, "Struggle for a Continent," pp. 27-54.) 

11. The English in the East (after 1580). (Woodward, "Expan- 
sion of the British Empire," pp. 69-85.) 

12. Reasons for English colonization in America. (Hart (ed.), 
"Contemporaries," I, Nos. 44-46.) 

QUESTIONS 

1. What was the significance of the first voyage of Columbus? 

2. How did the discoveries of Vespucius and Magellan affect the 
geographical ideas of the times ? 

3. What influences were most powerful in leading the Spanish to 
colonize ? What were the chief characteristics of Spain's colonial 
policy? Was Spain a successful colonizing nation? 

4. Why did Soto fail, while Cortez and Pizarro succeeded ? Name 
several reasons why the Spanish failed to get a real foothold in the 
United States. 

5. How do you account for the comparative inactivity of the 
French and English during the sixteenth century? 



CHAPTER III 



Virginia com- 
pany and its 
sub-companies. 



MacDonald, 
C/iarters, No.i. 



Channing, 
United States, 
I. 157-163. 



EARLY ENGLISH COLONIZATION (1600-1660) 
English Rulers 



Elizabeth (1558-1603) 
James I (1603-1625) 



Charles I (1625-1649) 
Commonwealth (1649-1660) 



Virginia (1606-162 5) 

34. The Charter of 1606. — During the early years of 
the seventeenth century several voyages were made to the 
coast of Virginia by English seamen who brought back 
glowing reports of the country and its climate. As Ralegh 
had been imprisoned and his charter 
annulled by James I, a new com- 
pany was organized in 1606 for the 
purpose of making settlements in 
Virginia. To certain members of 
this Virginia company, residing in 
London and usually called the 
London company, was granted the 
land lying between parallels 34 and 
38. The territory from 41° north 
to 45° was granted to members living in Plymouth, the right 
to occupy the middle strip from 38° to 41° being shared by 
both sub-companies, provided that neither settled within 
one hundred miles of the other. The Virginia company 
was permitted to coin money and to defend its possessions, 
while its colonists were to have all the rights enjoyed by 
Englishmen.^ 

^ There was to be a resident council for the government of each of 
the two colonies established, and the general direction of the Virginia 
company's affairs in England was entrusted to a council appointed by 
the king. 

40 




LATSD GRANTS 

UNDER CHARTER 
or 1000 



i6o7] 



Virginia 



41 



35. The Settlement at Jamestown. — In December, 
1606, three vessels fitted out by the London company set 
sail for the new world with more than one hundred colonists. 
According to the custom of those days, they went by way 
of the Canaries and the West Indies and did not enter 
Chesapeake Bay until April, 1607. As a site for the new 
settlement, they desired a place not too near the coast which 
might be fortified easily against the Spaniards, who objected 
to English settlements on land 
which they claimed. A low 
peninsula half buried at high 
tide was selected, the name of 
Jamestown being given to the 
settlement, in honor of the 
king. Most of the settlers 
were ''gentlemen" unused to 
hard labor, so that the work of 
constructing homes and plant- 
ing crops progressed slowly. 
With summer came an epi- 
demic of fever, and within four 
months half of the colonists 
had perished. The councilors 

who had been sent over to govern the people proved in- 
efficient and quarreled with one another. Famine was 
averted by securing corn from the Indians and by sup- 
plies sent from England, but the communistic system, ac- 
cording to which all labored for the common store, did 
not encourage industry or thrift in a naturally shiftless 
set of men. 

The real leader of the party was John Smith. Although 
less than thirty years of age, Smith was a man of varied 
experiences and of considerable ability. Since coming to 
Virginia he had made friends with the Indians, and, in an 
open boat, had explored the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, 
making a map of the region which w^as remarkable for its 
accuracy. When he was elected president of the council, 




Captain John Smith 



The first year 
(1607). 

Eggleston, Be- 
giniiers of a 
Nation, 25-31. 

Channing, 
United States, 
I, 163-170. 



Tyler, England 
in America, 
41-54. 

Hart, Contem- 
poraries, 
I, Nos, 61-63. 



Rule of John 
Smith. 



Tyler, England 
in America, 
55-60. 



42 American History [1609 

Eggieston, Be- he reduced the colony to order, made the rule that those 

gmners, 31-40. ^}^^ ^j^ ^^^ work should not eat, and prevented starvation 

by securing food from the Indians through his skill and 

boldness. 

Charter of 1609. Smith's rule came to an end when a new charter was 

granted which changed the method of government and ex- 

MacDonald, tended the boundaries of the territory controlled by the 

Charters, London company. The new charter gave Virginia all the 

land for two hundred miles north and south of Point Comfort 

"up into the land, throughout from sea to sea, west and 

northwest." Because of the word ''northwest" Virginia 

Commercial afterward claimed the Territory in the interior of the conti- 

and social w^^Yii between the Ohio River and the Great Lakes (§ 90). 

results 

36. The Influence of Tobacco Culture. — That Virginia 
survived its early difficulties was due in large part to the 
character of its first leaders, especially to John Smith and 
Governor Dale. Its real prosperity, however, begins with 
the cultivation and exportation of tobacco, for which the 

U-S., 55-57. soil and climate of the colony were particularly adapted. 
Small crops of tobacco had been raised by the Indians be- 

Channing, fore the white settlers came, but not until Dale had put 
an end to the communistic system were plantations started 
on which the raising of tobacco became a regular industry. 
King James was strongly opposed to the use of the "filthy 
weed," but the market for their productions was so good that 
the planters soon came to devote their energies almost ex- 
clusively to tobacco growing. Settlers of a better class were 
attracted to the colony by the possibility of large profits 
from a regular occupation, and the banks of the James 
River and the shores of Chesapeake Bay were soon lined with 
the homes of men engaged in raising tobacco. Later, in- 
ducements were offered to poorer people, who paid for their 
passage to the new world by several years of service on the 
plantations. A few negroes, first brought to Jamestown in 
1619 in a Dutch man-of-war, were also employed at the 
more menial tasks. Gradually, as the plantations became 
larger and the field workers more numerous, the distinction 



Coman, Indus- 
trial Hist, of 



United States, 
I, 208-226. 



1624] Virginia 43 

between landowners and landless became more marked, 
the classes of society being almost as widely separated as in 
England. 

37. The First Virginia Assembly (16 19). — In the years Preliminary 
immediately preceding 161 9, the affairs of the London ^^^"^s. 
company in England and of the Virginia colonists in America 

did not go smoothly. James I tried to dominate the affairs un^^Tst • s 
of the company by dictating the laws that should be made i, 196-199. 
and the officers that should be elected.^ The members of 
the company objected naturally, for, by the charter of 161 2, T^x^x, England 
they had acquired the right to hold meetings in London, ^^^ ^'^erica, 
transact general business, and govern the colony in America. 
As the company had not proved a financial success, the ma- 
jority of the stock in the London company had come into 
the hands of Puritans who were opposed to arbitrary govern- 
ment in England and in America. Since the governor of 
Virginia had aroused the wrath of the settlers by his un- 
just and tyrannical rule, the company, under the lead of 
Sir Edwin Sandys, decided that representatives of the people 
should meet with a new governor and his advisers and help 
them make the laws. Following his instructions. Governor Meeting of the 
Yeardley asked the freemen in each of eleven plantations, assembly, 
towns, or hundreds to elect two representatives, and on July ^^''*' ^°'^^^^^^- 

' r- ' ^ ^ porartes, 

30, 1619, twenty-two burgesses met with the governor's i^no. 65. 
councilors in the first legislature in America. Two years 
later the London company passed an ordinance providing 
for a regular government in Virginia consisting of a council, 
c hosen by the English stockholders, which should assist the 
governor, and a general assembly composed of the councilors 
and of burgesses elected by the freemen. In this way the 
popular government established in 1619 by the English 
Puritans was made permanent. 

38. Virginia becomes a Royal Province (1624). — The End of the 

Puritan element in the London company not only advocated London com- 

^ ■' ^ pany s rule. 

^ King James opposed the political discussions at the meetings of 
the London company and objected to the criticisms of the crown by 
members of the company. 



44 



Ameiican History 



[1606 



Cooke, vir- constitutional government for their Virginia colony, but under 
ginia, 129-133. ^YiQ{x wise guidance hundreds of th;ifty settlers were pur- 
suaded to try their fortunes in the new world. The colony 
had a new lease of life, its prosperity far exceeding that of 
any previous time. Its success aroused the enmity of the 
Indians and in 1622 a terrible massacre occurred, from 
which Virginia recovered with surprising rapidity. But 
Tyler, England ^j^jg uprising furnished the excuse desired by the king and 

■in America, ? . , • -r-. i i r i 

Other enemies of the company m England for the over- 
throw of the company. This was accomplished in 1624 on 
flimsy pretexts, and Virginia became a royal province. No 
change was made, however, in the character of its colonial 
government, as Charles I, who came to the throne in 1625, 
desired to win the favor of his American subjects, and was 
willing to have assemblies that would provide money for 
the royal treasury. 



Hart, Contem- 
poraries, 
I, Nos. 66, 67. 



Si-92. 



New England before 1628 



Plymouth 
company 
(1607). 



Tyler, 
England in 
America, 
39-41- 



Council for 
New England 
(1620). 

MacDonald, 
C/iarlers, No. 4. 



39. The Plymouth Company and the Council for New 
England. — The settlements in the northern grant made to 
men of Plymouth in the charter of 1606 had not prospered 
like those of the South. During that terrible summer of 
1607 when the fate of Jamestown was yet doubtful, over one 
hundred colonists landed at the mouth of the Kennebec, 
but the extreme cold of the winter and the death of Sir John 
Popham, the chief justice of England and the ruling mem- 
ber of the Plymouth company, led to the abandonment 
of the enterprise. 

Nothing further was attempted until in 1620 the company 
was reorganized ^ and obtained from King James a patent 
to the land lying between parallels 40° and 48° and extend- 
ing from sea to sea, with a practical monopoly of the fisheries 
and fur trade. Various grants of land were made by the 
company to its members, but few settlements were made, 
even for purposes of trade, and the credit for establishing 



^ It was now called the Council for New England. 



1625] 



New EngliiJid before 1628 



45 







c^ 



^/ 



46 



American History 



[1600 



Eggleston, 
Beginners, 
103-114. 



the first homes in New England belongs to some Separatists, 
usually called the Pilgrims, who located at Plymouth. 
Puritan policy. 40. The English Puritans. — To understand the early 
history of New England, a knowledge of conditions and 
events in England under the first two Stuarts is quite as 
essential as any information regarding the doings of the 
early settlers, for the colonization of New England was due 
directly to the contest which took place between the Puritans 
and the Enghsh kings, James I and his son Charles I. The 
Puritans comprised a large and ever growing class of the 
English people who beheved that the Anglican church, which 
had been established by the Tudors in England at the time 
of the Reformation, retained too many of the old forms of 
the Roman Catholic church. They desired to purify the 
church of these ''papist" forms and to introduce among the 
people a higher standard of living. But they stood for more 
than religious reform. They advocated any scheme or 
plan that would lead to social or political betterment. It 
would be incorrect to imagine that they formed a sect with 
well-defined views, for the word "Puritan" three hundred 
years ago had a meaning but little more definite than that 
of "reformer" in our own time. In religious matters alone 
there was a vast difference between the moderate Puritan 
who favored a simplification of the church service, but who 
was nevertheless very much attached to the church, and the 
radical Puritan who had severed his connection with the 
estabhshed church in England and was known as a "Separat- 
ist." • Between these two extremes was the liberal Puritan, 
who desired to remain in the church but wished to introduce 
radical changes in the church service and to leave the control 
of all local ecclesiastical affairs, including the selection of a 
pastor, to the members of the congregation. 

In spite of their desire for reform, the Puritans were 
often narrow and the importance that they attached to forms 
is amazing to a person of the twentieth century. Their 
desire to raise the low moral standard of their time made 
them go to the other extreme. Their opposition to amuse- 



Three classes 
of Puritans. 



Puritan 
narrowness. 



i6o8] New England before 1628 47 

ments was so rabid that we are tempted to believe the state- Eggieston, 
ment that they objected to the cruel sport of bear baiting, Begin77ers, 
less because it gave pain to the bear than because it afforded 
pleasure to the spectators. And yet, with all the narrow- 
ness which they so often showed, it may well be doubted 
whether any other political force has exerted as great an 
influence on America as that of the Puritans. 

41. The Puritans and the English Monarchs. — During Under 
the reign of Elizabeth, all of those who did not conform to Elizabeth, 
the practices of the established church, frequently known as 
non-conformists, were treated with considerable severity. Tyler, 
Since the monarch was the head of the church and of the ^neTua ^^ 
state as well, those who refused to worship as the church 153-155. 
prescribed were thought to be guilty of disobedience Uttle 
less dangerous than treason. For this reason there was no 
religious toleration in England, and those who were unwilling 
to conform were punished. 

When the throne of England at the death of Elizabeth James I. 
was left to Tames VI of Scotland, there was a general feeling ^"^ ^^^ 

, ^ . 1 , . , , . , , Puritans. 

among the Puritans that they might obtain some ot the re- 
ligious reforms that they desired, since the established church 
of Scotland was controlled by the Puritans. James disap- ^Jf^-^^^^"' 
pointed the reformers very early in his reign, for in a religious 159-163. 
conference held at Hampton Court (1604) he showed very 
clearly that he believed thoroughly in his divine right to rule channing, 
both church and state. His experience with the Scotch United states 
church had not been especially pleasant and he took occasion ' ^'^^~^ ^' 
to oppose the Puritan requests because they would lead to a 
church system like that of Scotland, ''which agreeth as well ^ . 

•' 1-1 Puritan 

with a monarchy as God with the devil." In conclusion he devolution. 
said of the Puritans, "I shall make them conform them- 
selves, or I will harry them out of the land." This policy 
he followed with constantly increasing vigor, for the Puritan 
element was gaining in strength year by year. One of the 
earliest results of James's attitude was to drive from England 
many Separatist congregations which were no longer allowed 
to hold meetings, open or secret. 



Gardiner, 



48 



American History 



[1608 



In Holland 
(1608-1618). 



Tyler, 
E?igland in 
America, 
155-161. 



Hart, Contefn- 

poraries, 

I, Nos. 97-99. 



Amer. Hist. 
Leaflets, 
No. 29. 



Voyage to 

America 

(1620). 



Mayflower 
compact. 

MacDonald, 
Charters, ^o.^. 



Dangers 
(1620-1623). 



42. The Pilgrim Migrations. — One of these Separatist 
churches had been organized in Nottinghamshire by William 
Brewster and John Robinson. Owing to the persecutions 
of James I, they fled in 1608 to Holland, the only country in 
Europe where religious differences were tolerated. Making 
Leyden their home, with many other refugees, they toiled 
for years without being able to earn more than a bare living. 
As the prospect was no brighter for the future, and their 
children were influenced by the easy-going Dutch ways, 
often intermarrying with the Dutch as they grew up, some 
of them came to the conclusion that their condition might be 
improved by emigrating to America. The Puritans were 
now in control of the Virginia company and from them these 
Separatists obtained liberal concessions and a grant of land 
in the northern part of Virginia. Lacking the money needed 
for so expensive a journey, they entered into an agreement 
with certain '^ merchant adventurers" of London by which 
all of the earnings of the colonists should remain joint prop- 
erty, and each adventurer who contributed ten pounds 
should, at the end of seven years, have an equal share with 
each colonist. After many difficulties, including the abandon- 
ment of one of their vessels which proved unseaworthy, the 
Pilgrims set sail in the Mayflower from Plymouth, Septem- 
ber 6, 1620. Two months later they came in sight of Cape 
Cod, and after six weeks of search for a suitable place for a 
settlement landed December 21 at a harbor which they 
cafled New Plymouth. 

43. Early History of New Pl5miouth. — Being far to the 
north of the territory under the jurisdiction of the Virginia 
company, the men of the party met in the cabin of the 
Mayjiower and drew up a compact organizing themselves into 
a "civill body politick, for our [their] better ordering & pres- 
ervation," and promising "all due submission and obedi- 
ence" to the ''just& equalllawes" which they should enact 
from time to time. 

The first winter, although unusually mild for that section, 
brought terrible hardships and suffering. One half of the 



1 691] New Ejigland before 1628 49 

colony perished, but the rest kept bravely at their work, Tyler, 
being aided by a few others who came over from England ^^^s^andin 
or Holland. The Indians of the vicinity were friendly, a 161-167 ' 
permanent peace being made with their chief, Massasoit, 
which lasted until his death forty years later. When the 
chief of the more distant Narragansetts tried to intimidate 
them by sending a bundle of arrows tied with a rattlesnake's 
skin. Governor Bradford returned the skin filled with powder 
and ball. Soon after the Indian uprising in Virginia (1622), 
a threatened plot was nipped in the bud by the valiant cap- 
tain. Miles Standish. By this mixture of diplomacy and 
force, Plymouth became singularly free from difficulties with 
the red men. 

Even the honest, hard-working Pilgrims could not make End of 
a success of communism, and in 1624 an acre was assigned communism, 
to each person as his separate property. Where previously 
there had been continual danger of famine, now crops were 
abundant and a surplus remained for sale. Two years 
later money was borrowed from leading men of the colony, 
and the interests of the merchant adventurers were purchased 
for ;£i8oo. 

Plymouth obtained a land grant from the Council of New Government 
England in 1630 and was allowed to govern itself unmolested. ^^^^''^ ^^91- 
So few were its settlers that until 16^8 there was an annual 

Tyler, 

meeting of all the people of the colony, but after that year EngLnd in 
the example of Massachusetts was followed and a representa- America, 
tive assembly was held every year. Plymouth grew slowly, ^72-182. 
and in 1691 was joined to Massachusetts (§ 77). 

Beginnings of Massachusetts Bay (i 628-1 636) 

44. The Massachusetts Bay Company. — North of the Organization 
colony of New Plymouth, a few pioneers began settlements ^^^ charter, 
during the years following 1620, making a precarious living 
usually in connection with the fisheries. One of these, ^'^^<^' ^^^ 
composed of several earnest and religious men from Dor- ^^ 
Chester, had prospered for a time, only to be practically 
abandoned later. But this Dorchester venture had awak- 

£ 



so 



American History 



[1628 



Eggleston, 
Beginners, 
199-209. 



MacDonald, 
Charters, ^o. 



Quarrels 
over political 
and religious 
questions. 



Robinson, 
Western 

Europe, 
478-484. 



Coman and 
Kendall, 
England, 
296-306. 



ened the interest of certain Puritan leaders at home, who 
believed that America offered the best opportunity for the 
estabHshment of churches using the simple form of worship 
which was their ideal. With this in view they obtained 
(1628) from the Council for New England a patent to the 
land lying between boundaries three miles north of the 
Merrimac River and three miles south of the Charles, and 
extending from sea to sea. A year later King Charles re- 
affirmed this land grant in a royal charter which created 
the corporation known as "the Governor and Company of 
the Mattachusetts Bay in Newe England," with the right to 
admit new members and to govern its territory, provided 
that it did not make laws contrary to those of England. The 
officers were to consist of a governor, a deputy governor, and 
eighteen assistants, elected yearly by the members of the 
corporation. No place was designated for the meetings of 
these officers or of the ''general courts" composed of all 
stockholders in the company, although all previous charters 
had such a provision. The omission was due probably to 
the desire of the incorporators to hold their meetings in 
either London or Dorchester, but there was nothing in the 
charter to prohibit the company from establishing its head- 
quarters in America. 

45. King Charles and the Puritans. — The desire of the 
Puritans to have a colony in America was due in large part 
to friction with the king, Charles I, who had succeeded his 
father in 1625. Charles was a thorough believer in his 
divine right to rule England, and was less cautious and 
more obstinate than his father. The Puritan element now 
controlled the house of commons and forced the king in the 
Petition of Right (1628) to grant their political demands, 
but they were unable to obtain any religious concessions. 
Charles desired a high church ritual with greater uniformity 
throughout the realm. The commons insisted that a simpli- 
fied service should be used. The victory remained with 
Charles, for he had begun to make changes and dissolved 
parliament before the commons could do more than protest. 



1630] Beginnings of Massachtisetts Bay 5 1 

Charles then carried out his plans by enforcing through 
Archbishop Laud a ritual more elaborate than any used 
previously in the churches. But Charles's attempt to govern 
England without parliament (1629-1640) and in opposition 
to the wishes of a majority of his subjects, his extra-legal 




A Puritan ^^- Gaudens 

levies of ship money (1635), ^"^^ his attempt finally to force 
the English prayer book on the Scotch church (1637), al- 
though apparent evidence of his triumph over the Puritans, 
were in reality the chief causes of his final overthrow. 

46. Character of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. — When 
the most prominent members of the Massachusetts Bay 



52 



American History 



[1630 



The great 
migration 
(1630-1640). 

Hart, Contem- 
poraries, I, 
Nos. 105, 106. 

Fiske, New 
Etigland, 10 1- 
104, 137-146- 

Eggleston, 
Beginners, 
209-215. 

Charming, 
United States, 
I. 325-335- 



The colony 
acquires the 
company's 
charter. 

Channing, 
United States, 
I. 340-342. 



Contest 
between the 
ofificials and 
the people. 

Tyler, 
Enghvid in 
America, 
201-204. 

Channing, 
United States, 
1,342-351. 

Hart, Contem- 
poraries, 
I, No. 107. 



company left England in 1629, they decided to take the 
charter with them, intending to transact all their future 
business where no agent of the king might interrupt. The 
leading spirit in this movement was the new governor, John 
Winthrop, a man of exceptional scholarship and very 
noble character. Winthrop and about one thousand others 
embarked for their new home during the year 1630, the first 
of the eleven years of the "great Puritan migration," for 
during the time that Charles attempted to govern England 
without parliament, nearly twenty thousand men, women, 
and children were transported to the shores of New England. 
They did not come for religious freedom but w^ith the idea 
of establishing churches in which they might worship in the 
way which they preferred. 

The transfer of the charter, in itself a most remarkable 
event, was the beginning of political changes even more 
noteworthy. All church members in the colony were ad- 
mitted as members of the company. In this way the colony 
became identified with the company and gained all of the 
rights that the company had possessed, so that it now had the 
power, protected by the charter, to govern itself. This 
change was in fact completed before the king discovered 
that the charter of the company had been taken from Eng- 
land. 

47. Political Problems and Dangers. — Some of the leaders 
of the Massachusetts Bay company wished to make all of 
the laws and do all of the governing. They persuaded the 
people to keep them in office without holding elections 
yearly as the charter directed. The people submitted until 
the officials began to levy a special tax for a stockade at the 
most exposed settlement. Then they insisted upon annual 
elections and the right of every member of the colony to 
attend the annual meeting and help make the laws. As it 
was found impossible for the men from distant settlements 
to leave their homes for this annual meeting, they began 
in 1634 to send representatives who helped the governor's 
assistants to make the laws. In 1644 a dispute over a stray 



1636] Begijinmgs of Massachusetts Bay 53 

pig led to the separation of the assistants and the represent- MacDonald, 
atives, thus organizing the first bicameral legislature in ^^^'ters, 

No. 17. 

America. The democratic faction protested against the 
\ powers which the officials still exercised by interpreting as 
they pleased the laws which were unwritten. The people 
demanded a bill of rights and a written code. In 1641 the 
officials yielded and passed a very complete and very liberal 
code of laws known as the Massachusetts Body of Liberties. 

The Massachusetts Bay company treated its neighbors Attempt 
so arbitrarily that some of them complained to the king. *^ revoke 
King Charles realized that the colony was governing itself 
in opposition to his wishes, so that steps were taken to revoke 
the charter. Preparations were made to defend the colony / ^^: , . 

^ ^ •' Engla7id in 

against attack, but the king was too busy carrying out his America, 

policy at home to give the matter his attention. 204-209. 

48. Religious Difficulties. — Quite as serious as the Religious 

threatened attacks made by England were the dangers poi'cy of 



arising in Massachusetts from religious differences. Mas- 



the colony. 



sachusetts was a distinctively Puritan commonwealth. 

The church was not only closely connected with the affairs ^ ^y* ^ . 

-' ■' Efigland in 

of State, it was the foundation on which the political and America, 
social organization rested. Partly for this reason, partly 210-212. 
because the Puritans w^re by nature intense, sincere, but 
narrow, and partly because every nation of that time except 
the Dutch loathed the idea of religious toleration, the govern- 
ment of Massachusetts exercised a very strict supervision of 
church affairs. Although themselves non-conformists with 
the established church in England, the Puritan emigrants 
followed toward the irregulars the policy of James I toward 
themselves. Those were banished who insisted on worship- 
ing according to the rites of the Anglican church or in 
other non-Puritan ways. 

The most famous of these early dissenters was Roger Roger 
Williams, an able, large-hearted but eccentric clergyman. ' ^^'^^' 
He wrote a pamphlet claiming that the king had no right to Fiske, New 
issue land patents, for all the land belonged to the Indians. Ettgland, 
Williams' crowning offence was the assertion that no magis- '^ ^ 



54 



American History 



[1636 



Tyler, 
E7tgla7id in 
Ainerica, 
212-218. 

Channing, 
United States, 
I, 362-368. 



Anne 
Hutchinson. 

Fiske, New 

England, 

116-119. 

Eggleston, 
Beginners, 
329-339. 



trate should exercis^any control in religious matters, such 
as enforcing Sunday laws or requiring an unconverted 
person to take an oath, which he considered a religious act, 
but that affairs of state should be separated from those of 
the church.^ He was tried (1635) and ordered to leave for 
England, but was permitted to make his way south, where 
he founded Providence (1636). 

Williams had exercised great influence, but had no large 
personal following, as was the case with Mrs. Anne Hutchin- 
son whose teachings in 1636 threatened to disrupt Massachu- 
setts. The entire population of Boston was divided into 
two hostile parties favorable or unfavorable to Mrs. Hutchin- 
son. The opponents of Mrs. Hutchinson finally triumphed 
and that lady with her followers was banished (1637). 
Some went north to New Hampshire, but the larger number 
settled on Rhode Island in Narragansett Bay. 



Religious 
policy. 

Channing, 
United States, 
I. 393-398. 



Hart, Contem- 
poraries, 
I, No. 115. 



Expansion in New England (163 5-1 645) 

49. Providence Plantations and Rhode Island. — Settled 
by persons who had been driven from Massachusetts be- 
cause of their religious views. 
Providence and the Rhode Island 
towns were drawn together by 
bonds of sympathy, but remained 
politically separate until in 1644 
Roger Williams obtained from a 
parliamentary commission a semi- 
charter by which the towns around 
Narragansett Bay were united and 
authorized to govern themselves. 
The policy of Providence from the 
beginning and of the united towns 
after 1644 was one of perfect religious liberty. Liberal 
Puritans were welcomed, but freedom of thought was per- 

^ When supplying the pulpit at Salem, his extreme views gave 
offense. He was held responsible when one of his supporters, John 
Endicott, cut out from the British flag one arm of the cross which 




Roger Williams 



1637] Expansion in New England 55 

mitted to Catholics, Jews, Quakers, and atheists as well. 
Williams insisted that a man should be protected by the 
government without regard to his religious views. Through 

jhis influence Rhode Island became the first community in 
the modern world where there was perfect religious liberty. 

i Yet the earliest results of this policy were somewhat disas- 

jtrous. Not only those with real depth of religious feeling 
made Rhode Island their home, but many whose views on all 

I subjects were unusual. 

The colony grew but slowly, making up in the eccentricity Charter of 

\ of its people what it lacked in numbers. As the first semi- 1663. 
charter had been issued irregularly and did not define the 

i territorial limits of the colony, Charles II was persuaded in MacDonaid, 

' 1663 to grant a charter which gave the people complete ^^^^^^^^ 
powers of self-government, subject to the one limitation 
that the laws conform as near as might be to the laws of 
England. Perfect religious freedom was permitted, so that 
no change was made in the policy of the colony. 

50. The Connecticut Valley. — We have already noticed Settlement, 
(§ 47) the antagonism existing in Massachusetts between Dutch and 
those who favored an aristocratic government and those 
whose ideal was democratic. Although certain concessions 
were made to the liberals, several of the towns were still Channmg 

, United States^ 

dissatisfied, as they desired to abolish the religious quali- 1^398-404. 
fications for voting. Another cause of discontent existed 
in the sterility of the soil, which they had found unsuitable yK'^Vq, New 
for agriculture. Learning of the fertile Connecticut valley England, 
in the west, several hundred people set out in 1636. The ^23-133. 
Dutch had already built (1633) within the present limits of 
Hartford a fort which they did not abandon for several Eggleston, 
years. The mouth of the river was seized by the English, Jf^"^^^' 
who erected a fort, from which the Dutch made a half- 
hearted attempt to drive them. Their real foes were not 
the Dutch but the Pequod Indians, who ruled the territory 

Endicott declared was a symbol of popery. This act the magistrates 
felt might be construed in England as an insult, and they forced from 
Endicott an apology. 



56 



American History 



[1639 



Constitution 
of 1639. 

Channing, 
United States, 
I, 404-407. 

MacDonald, 
Charters, 
No. 14. 

Johnston, 
Connecticut, 
59-64. 75-79. 



Connecticut 
charter (1662). 

MacDonald, 
Charters, 
No. 24. 

Johnston, 

CoJinecticut, 

167-173. 

Theocratic 
character. 



from the Hudson to Narragansett Bay with severity. Diffi- 
cuUies arose almost at the start, and were increased by 
savage actions on both sides. In 1637 the people resolved 
to put an end to these outrages. One of the Pequod camps 
west of Narragansett Bay was attacked by less than a hun- 
dred men under Mason and Underhill. The attack was 
a complete surprise, the wigwams were set on fire, and several 
hundred Indians slain. The remaining Pequods were 
relentlessly hunted out of the country, and for many years 
there was peace and prosperity. 

As the people of Connecticut were outside the jurisdiction 
of Massachusetts and unwilling to have that colony extend 
its authority over them, they met and drew up a set of 
fundamental laws for their government (1639). The con- 
stitution which was adopted in 1639 established a govern- 
ment similar to that of Massachusetts, with a governor, 
magistrates, and deputies, who looked after common inter- 
ests. Unlike Massachusetts, Connecticut did not restrict 
the privilege of voting to those who were church mem- 
bers, and she left with the towns a much more complete 
degree of self-government than had been enjoyed in the parent 
colony. This set of laws, remarkable for its democratic 
character, is still more remarkable because it is the first 
written constitution compiled by a people for their own 
government. 

This very liberal political system was recognized and con- 
tinued in the charter which Connecticut obtained from 
Charles II in 1662. The new colony, however, included not 
only the Connecticut valley settlements, but New Haven as 
well, and extended from the Pawtucket River to the Pacific. 
Under this charter, slightly modified when Connecticut 
became a state in 1776, the people lived until 1818. 

51. New Haven. — Strangely enough the later colony 
and state of Connecticut was composed of two quite different 
elements: the Connecticut valley settlements, the most 
liberal, and the New Haven settlements, the most conserva- 
tive, of those made by the New England Puritans. The 



1643] Expansion hi Nezu England 57 

founders of New Haven desired to establish a town ruled Fiske, New 

according: to Scripture, which to them meant the Mosaic ^"S^^'^"^< 

code. Other towns were founded by their friends, and in 

1643 these were united in much the same way as those of Tyler, England 

Connecticut under the constitution of 1639. In New Haven "'- ^"^^^'^'^^ 

only church members might vote, and the general court 

enacted rather searching laws regulating religious and other Channmg, 

—,, . 1 r 1 -r» 1 United States, 

matters. These were caricatured soon alter the Revolu- t ,^ ,^^ 
tionary War by a loyalist, Peters, whose book on the ''Blue 
Laws of Connecticut " was supposed for many years to be 
historically correct. 

52. Northern New England. — A number of attempts Settlement, 
had been made to colonize the coast north of Massachusetts. Relations with 

Massachusetts. 

Several grants of land were issued by the Council for New 
England, notably that to Mason and Gorges. In 1629 

,..,,,. . ^ ^ , . , , Tyler, England 

these men divided their territory. Mason taking that between ^^^ America, 
theMerrimac and the Piscataqua, to which he now gave the 266-276, 279- 
name New Hampshire, and Gorges that from the Piscata- ^Si. 
qua to the Kennebec, a district known as Maine. Large 
sums were spent by both, but their settlements were little 
more than fishing hamlets. At the beginning of the Civil 
War in England, Massachusetts annexed the New Hamp- 
shire towns on the ground that her charter of 1629 gave her 
all territory east as well as west from a point three miles 
north of the source of the Merrimac River, but the towns 
were allowed to govern themselves and to send representa- 
tives to the general court of Massachusetts until in 1679 
New Hampshire became a royal province. During the 
Commonwealth Massachusetts extended her jurisdiction 
over most of the towns in Maine also, and although obliged 
by a commission from England (1665) to relinquish her 
control temporarily, she reasserted her authority until 
Maine was purchased from the Gorges heirs by Massa- 
chusetts (1678). The territory east of the Kennebec River 
was granted to several court favorites, but was practically 
unoccupied because of the opposition of the French. 

53. The New England Confederation (1643). — Between 



58 



American History 



[1643 



Origin. 

Fiske^ New 

England, 

155-158. 



Government. 



Fiske, New 

England, 

158-161. 



Channing, 
United States, 
1,415-420. 



several of these New England colonies there was a pro- 
nounced unity of feeling. Though representing different 
types of Puritan sentiment, the ideals in Massachusetts Bay, 
New Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven were much 
the same. Some of these colonies had acted together in 
more than one undertaking, but no formal union had been 
considered wise, perhaps for the reason that it would have 

made supervision 
by the royal 
government so 
much easier. In 
1643, the Civil 
War in England 
removed this ob- 
stacle and these 
four little Puri- 
tan communities 
united to form 
the New England 
Confederation, 
chiefly for the pur- 
pose of better de- 
fense against the 
Dutch, the French, 
and the Indians. Maine, a settlement alien in its origin 
and customs, was not admitted, nor was heretical Rhode 
Island, which wished to join the league, its lack of stable 
government being assigned as the excuse for refusal. 

The Confederation carefully avoided interference with the 
local government of each of its members. Two commis- 
sioners were selected by each colony for the transaction of 
league matters. Any six of these had power to determine 
questions of peace or war, deciding how many men each 
colony was able to contribute for purposes of defense. 
Intercolonial disputes were to be settled by the commissioners. 
A sort of intercolonial citizenship was established and ser- 
vants or criminals escaping from one colony to another 




1632] Maryland 59 

were to be surrendered. The authority of the commissioners MacDonaid, 



Charters, 
No. 19. 



was more apparent than real, but the Confederation was of 
great value in dealing with both the Dutch and the Indians. 
The injustice done to Massachusetts, which was larger than 
the other three together, and the desire of that colony to 
manage the affairs of the Confederation, caused its decline, 
but it remained in existence until 1684. 

Maryland 

54. The Charter of Maryland (1632). — While the A proprietary 
Puritan emigration to New England was taking place, a colony, 
colony of a new type was being founded in the region north 
of Virginia. The land was granted and the power to govern 
the colony assigned to a proprietor ^ who controlled the affairs 
of the colony in accordance with a charter given to him by 
the king. This proprietary form of government, although 
modified in many ways, was the one used after this time in 
the establishment of new English colonies in America. 

The founding of Maryland was due to the personal am- Calvert and his 
bition of George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, an enterprising charter. 
Catholic nobleman who had long enjoyed royal favor. He 
was anxious to establish in the new world a place of refuge MacDonaid. 
for Catholics and to buil'd up for his family a semi-feudal ^^ '^^ ' 
estate. Before his conversion to the faith of Rome, he had 
started a settlement on Newfoundland, which was soon ^. , ^,, ^^ 

Fiske, Ocd Vir- 

abandoned. He next tried Virginia, but the governors of ginia, i, 255- 
the colony would have none of him. He then obtained 256,261-274. 
from the king a charter which gave him title to the land from 
the Potomac to the fortieth parallel and from Delaware Bay Eggleston, 
to the meridian passing through the head waters of the Po- 221-2^6 
tomac. Over this domain he was to exercise almost regal 
powers, sending to the king two arrows yearly as a recogni- 
tion of royal suzerainty. He was free from taxation by the 
authorities at home, which were not allowed to interfere in 
other ways with his government. With the consent of the 
freemen, he might make the laws, which should not be 
contrary to those of England. 



6o 



America7i History 



[1635 



Contest over 
the right to pro- 
pose laws. 



Channing, 

United States, 
1,265-267. 

Browne, 

Maryland, 

35-37.41-47. 



Religious 
classes. 
Law of 1649. 



MacDonald, 
Charters, 
No. 21. 



Eggleston, 
Beguiners, 
242, 250-257. 



55. The Proprietor and the Freeman. — Interest in the 
early history of Maryland centers around two things, the re- 
hgious conditions and the development of democratic in- 
stitutions. George Calvert died before the charter was 
granted and his work was undertaken by his eldest son, 
Cecil, who remained in England and exercised his functions 
as proprietor through a resident governor. Being at such 
a distance, he was unable to meet with the freemen for the 
purpose of making laws, and the earliest laws which he 
proposed for the colony were rejected by the first assembly 
of freemen (1635), who claimed that they had the right to 
propose laws. This claim was not accepted by the proprietor, 
who in turn rejected the laws suggested by the freemen. 
Matters remained in this chaotic state for four years, each 
side refusing to yield, but in 1639 Baltimore gave his consent 
to a very full and cumbersome code of laws enacted by the 
assembly, at the same time instructing his governor to 
claim the power of veto only. Calvert could well afford this 
concession, because his authority over the colony was very 
great, and the legislature was composed of councilors 
selected by himself as well as the freemen who represented 
the people or were summoned to the assembly by the pro- 
prietor. The later history of the colony is largely concerned 
with the attempt on the part of the freemen and of the pro- 
prietor to extend their legislative influence at the expense of 
the other. 

56. Religious Toleration. — From the first the majority 
of the settlers in Maryland were Puritans, the proportion 
increasing with great rapidity during the closing years of 
the Civil War in England, especially when Virginia in 1648 
drove many Puritans from its borders. As the proprietor 
could not establish Catholicism as a state religion, and would 
not permit an established church of any other faith, there 
had been little interference on account of religious beliefs 
during the early history of Maryland. Foreseeing that the 
Catholic majority in the legislature could not be maintained 
on account of the Puritan immigration, Baltimore proposed 



character of 

English 

settlements 



1 660 J Maryland 61 

to the freemen a law giving religious toleration, and at the 
same time sent over a Protestant governor. The legislature 
rejected Baltimore's law because it denied to the proprietary 
the right of initiation, but the next year (1649) passed a 
somewhat similar law. This famous "Toleration Act" pro- 
vided the death penalty for those who blasphemed or denied 
any person of the Trinity, but declared ''that noe person or 
persons . . . professing to beleive in Jesus Christ, shall 
from henceforth bee any waies troubled. Molested or dis- 
countenanced for or in respect of his or her religion." 

57. Summary. — After a half century of successful Extent and 
colonization we find the English in possession of the Atlantic 
coast from the Kennebec nearly to the Hudson, and from the 
northern part of Chesapeake Bay to Cape Fear River. (1660). 
The intervening territory was occupied by the Dutch, who 
had lately conquered the tiny Swedish settlement on the 
Delaware. To the south, though separated by an extensive 
wilderness, were the Spanish, while but little closer neighbors 
on the north were the French. In 1660 the English settlers 
lived in eight distinct colonies, two of which, Massachusetts 
and Virginia, included more than one half of the total 
population. The emigration to the American provinces of 
England had been almost exclusively from the mother 
country, most of the settlers coming between the years 161 9 
and 1640, although a large number of cavaliers sought 
Virginia when the fortunes of Charles I declined. As the 
majority of these settlers were hard-working, courageous 
men and women whom the dangers of the forest could not 
daunt nor the hardships of the frontier discourage, the future 
of the colonies was assured. With increasing prosperity 
and continued expansion, the Dutch settlements would of 
necessity have become less endurable, and the first oppor- 
tunity was therefore embraced to conquer them. 

TOPICS 

I. Virginia under the Commonwealth : Fiske, " Old Virginia," 
II, pp. 1-18: Doyle, "English Colonies," I, pp. 212-229; Bancroft, 
" United States." 



62 American History 

2. The Puritans: Ellis, in Winsor, "America," III, pp. 219-244; 
Palfrey, "New England," I, pp. 101-132; Osgood, in Political 
Science Quarterly, VI (1891), pp. 1-28, 201-231; Borgeaud, "De- 
mocracy in America." 

3. Pilgrim Migrations: Fiske, "New England," pp. 71-82; 
Eggleston, " Beginners of a Nation," pp. 165-177; Channing, "United 
States," I, pp. 293-307. 

STUDIES 

1. Agricultural difficulties and problems in early Virginia. (Bruce, 
"Economic History of Virginia," I, pp. 189-226.) 

2. Smith in Virginia. ("American History Leaflets," No. 27.) 

3. Virginia under Charles I. (Cooke, "Virginia," pp. 41-157.) 

4. First weeks at Plymouth. (Bradford, " Plymouth Plantation.") 

5. Early emigrants. (Hart (ed.), "Contemporaries," I, Nos. 55- 

58.) 

6. Winthrop's account of Massachusetts. (" American History 
Leaflets," No. 31.) 

7. Earliest New England code of laws. ("American History 
Leaflets," No. 25.) 

• 8. Pequod War. (Doyle, "English Colonies," I, pp. 160-178.) 

9. Roger Williams and his work. (Eggleston, "Beginners of a 
Nation," pp. 266-306.) 

10. General character of the English colonies. (Mace, "Method 
in History," pp. 86-104.) 

11. Charter land grants. (" American History Leaflets," No. 14.) 

QUESTIONS 

1. What was the significance of the settlement at Jamestown 
(1607)? of that at Plymouth (1620)? of that at Salem (1628)? 

2. Compare the Virginia charters of 1606^ 1609, and 161 2 as to 
territory and government. 

3. What influence did tobacco have upon (a) the growth of Vir- 
ginia, {h) the social classes, (c) the establishment of the county systems 
of government, {d) the relations of Virginia to England (§ 36) ? 

4. Did the Puritans believe in religious toleration ? How did the 
Puritan spirit show itself in the dealings of Massachusetts with Roger 
Williams and with England? Was their course justified? 

5. In the contest between the aristocrats and the liberals in Mas- 
sachusetts between 1630 and 1641, which gained the greater vic- 
tories in determining the character (a) of the government, {h) of the 
suffrage, (c) of the code of laws ? 

6. Define the term "charter." Give the distinction between a 
charter and a constitution. In what respects was the constitution of 
Connecticut different from the Massachusetts charter of 1629? 



CHAPTER IV 

LATER ENGLISH COLONIZATION (1660-1700) 

English Rulers 

Charles II (1660-1685) William III (16S9-1702) 

James II (1685-1688) and Mary (1689-1694) 

58. Commercial Situation of England about 1660. — The English 
year 1660, during which the Stuarts were restored to their colonial and 

,. ._-, 111-. <• commercial 

position as kings of England, marks the beginning of a new u^, 

epoch from the standpoint of the colonies. This was due 

to a larsre extent to the interest taken by the able advisers . , 

° -^ Andrews, 

of Charles II, Clarendon and Shaftesbury, in the expansion col.Self-Gov't 
of the British domains, and the desire of those statesmen 5-i3- 
to bring the existing English colonies into closer and more 
satisfactory relations with the mother country. It was 
due in part also to the anxiety of England to compete with 
Holland, which had become the first commercial nation of 
Europe.^ Cromwell had sought to injure Dutch commercial 
supremacy by securing a law (1651) which compelled all 
English merchants to import and export goods in English 
ships only. This had led to a war with Holland in which 
the advantage remained with the English. 

This policy of British trade in British ships only was re- Early naviga- 
affirmed by the new Stuart government after the Restoration 
by the passage of the very important navigation act of 1660. 
Not only were England and the English possessions to allow 
only English or colonial vessels entrance to their ports, but ^^.^^ 
certain articles produced in the colonies, including sugar 

^ The Dutch had not only gained extensive possessions in America, 
with the control of most of the East India trade, but in 1650 they 
controlled nine tenths of the carrying trade of England and practically 
a monopoly of that of continental nations. 

63 



tion acts. 



Andrews, 

Col. Self- Govt., 



64 American History [i66q 

and tobacco, and known as "enumerated" goods, were to be 
shipped to England only. A few years later the colonies 
were required to purchase all goods from England direct, 
thus giving the English merchants a monopoly in selling 
Purpose and to them. The undoubted purpose of these acts of trade 
results of the ^^^^ ^^ destroy the commerce of the Dutch as far as possible, 

Navigation i i i • 

Acts. but they were made on the theory then m common use that 

colonies should aid the mother country by furnishing a 
market for her surplus products and by helping the home 
country to build up her industries. The ministers of Charles 
II probably desired to treat the colonies fairly, for colonial 
vessels were considered English ships and the colonies 
often obtained special commercial privileges. For example, 
Virginia tobacco had a monopoly of the English market, 
as tobacco growing was prohibited in England and the im- 
portation of tobacco from foreign countries was forbidden. 

Reorganization 59- England and the Colonies (1660-1685). — Dur- 
ing the quarter century following the Restoration, consid- 
erable progress was made in improving the colonial system 
of England. In 1660 there were only three regularly 
organized English colonies on the Atlantic coast. One of 
these, Virginia, was under the direct control of the crown; 
a second, Maryland, was governed by a proprietor whose 
relations to England were defined in a charter; the third, 
Massachusetts, was a self-governing charter colony w^hich 
had in more than one way refused to acknowledge the su- 
premacy of the English government. There were in addition 
settlements in Maine, New Plymouth, on Rhode Island, and 
at Providence, in Connecticut, and on the shores of Long 
Island Sound. ^ Soon after the Restoration, charters were 
granted (1662) to Connecticut, which now included New 
Haven, and (1663) to Rhode Island including Providence. 
Attempts were made also to bring Massachusetts into sub- 
mission, ending in the revocation of her charter of 1629 
in the year 1684.^ 

^ New Hampshire was included in Massachusetts from 1641 to 
1679. 2 See §§ 73, 75. 



of colonies. 



1685] Later English Colonization 65 

Interest was shown in colonial expansion when Clarendon, Founding of 
Shaftesbury, and some associates prepared to settle the region "^^ colonies, 
south of Virginia (1663). In 1664 jealousy of the Dutch 
and desire to join the colonies of the North with those of the 
South led to the conquest of New Netherland. Six years 
later the enterprising Hudson Bay company was organized, 
and soon after 1680 the only unoccupied section of the coast 
north of the Savannah River was granted to William Penn. 
All of these changes were favorable to the increased authority 
of the home government, for these new colonies were directly 
controlled by members of the Stuart family or by court 
favorites. 

New York (1609-1685) 

60. The Founding of New Netherland. — The Dutch Hudson, 
claim to the country between New England and Maryland The India 
was based on the explorations of Henry Hudson, followed by ^^"'P^"^^^' 
the subsequent occupation of the region by Dutch traders 

and by settlers sent out from Holland. Hudson was an ^, ^""/"5' 

■' United States, 

Englishman in the employ of the Dutch East India company. \^ 438-446. 

While in search of a passage to the Pacific (1609) ^^ sailed 

up the river which now bears his name until fresh water Hart, Contejn- 

showed that it was not a channel connecting two oceans, poranes. 

He won the friendship of the Indians and within a few years ^X_^ jro^ icV 

a considerable fur trade was established with the Indians by 

the thrifty Dutch, but no attempt was made to settle the 

country until in 162 1 the Dutch West India company was 

created. By the charter of this company the government of 

the territory around the Delaware and Hudson rivers, as 

well as the fur trade of that section, was placed entirely in 

its hands. But the company took no interest in colonization, 

preferring to devote its entire attention to the establishment 

of trading posts and the development of the fur trade. 

61. The Province of New Netherland. — In 1629 the Thepatroon 
West India company adopted a new policy and promised system. 
that any person who should send fifty adults to their American 
possessions should have lands fronting on either the Hudson 



66 



American History 



[1629 



Channing, 
United States, 
I, 446-449. 



Fiske, 
Dutch and 
Quaker Cols. 
I, 133-140- 



or the Delaware, sixteen miles on one bank or eight miles 
on both and extending into the interior. This liberal do- 
main the patroon, as he was called, was to rule as a feudal 
lord, with power to make laws and hold court for the trial 
of offenses. All corn was to be ground at his mill and no 
one should hunt or fish on his domain without his consent. 
This feudal system appealed to many wealthier members of 
the company and large landed estates were established along 
the Hudson. Of these the most extensive was that of the 



Dutch 
governors. 

Channing, 
United States, 
1,450-472. 




New Amsterdam 

Van Rensselaers, in which the custom of paying feudal rents 
persisted until the tenants rebelled about 1840 and gained 
the right to purchase their lands. 

Governors were sent out by the company to administer 
its affairs, which they did in a quite unsatisfactory manner. 
The early governors found it difficult to maintain the au- 
thority of the company against the patroons, who were 
practically independent within the limits of their patroon- 
ships. The people of the principal city. New Amsterdam, 
and in the rest of the colony protested also against the arbi- 



1664] New York 6y 

trary rule of the governors, and demanded a share in the 
government. The last and the ablest of the Dutch gov- 
ernors, Stuyvesant, was forced to give New Amsterdam a • 
more liberal government with nine men to advise him, but 
he made more promises than reforms, and to the last the 
rule of the Dutch was narrow and arbitrary. 

62. New Netherland and its Neighbors. — The location Relations with 
of New Netherland between jealous and comparatively *^^^ Indians, 
powerful English colonies and its proximity to the most 
powerful Indian tribe on the continent, the Iroquois, made Channing, 
its position one of no little difficulty. The Dutch avoided f"'^^'^ ^*f"' 
conflict with the Iroquois by preserving the friendship es- 
tablished with those Indians by Hudson. This afforded 
them protection from attack and benefited their trade in fur. 
Unwise treatment of the Indians near Manhattan Island, 
however, led to a disastrous war, in which most of the 
settlements near New Amsterdam were destroyed (1641- 

1643)- 

On the south the Dutch came into collision with the Conquest of 
Swedes, who had made a few settlements on the shores of ^^^ Sweden 
Delaware Bay. The Dutch claimed the land and warned 
the Swedes to leave, but no action was taken before 1648, 
partly because of the governors' indifference and partly J^^^d^states 
because Sweden had aided Holland during the Thirty Years' i, 475-477. 
War which closed that year. After the Peace of Westphalia 
made all the nations guarantee the independence of Holland, 
the new governor, Stuyvesant, proceeded against the Swedes 
and in 1655 New Sweden was brought under Dutch rule. 

63. Conquest of New Netherland (1664). — By the Eng- English mo- 
lish the Dutch had been considered intruders from the be- ^^''^^ ^""^ ^^'■'^ 

1 T^ 1 1 1 . 1 1 . 1 • attempts. 

gmnmg, because England laid claim to the entire coast on 
the basis of the Cabot voyages. Aside from the feeling against 
Holland that sprang from commercial rivalry, England Andrews 

, . V ^ .rj fe Col. Self- Gov't, 

desired to seize the Dutch possessions for several reasons. 74-78. 
Dutch occupation of the region between the thriving prov- 
inces in New England and in^the South was not pleasing to 
her, their extensive fur trade was an object of envy, and the 



6S 



American History 



[1650 



Hart, Contem- 
poraries, 
I, No. 155. 



Fiske, 
Dutch and 
Quaker Cols. 
I, 248-269, 



Conquest and 
reconquest. 

Andrews, 

Col. Self- Gov't, 

78-82, 89. 



Fiske, 
Dutch and 
Quaker Cols., 
I, 277-292. 



The people 
and their 
government. 



Andrews, 

Col. Self- Gov't, 

82-100. 



Dutch gave offense by helping the colonies to evade the 
navigation acts. Before 1650 the Dutch had been driven 
from the valley of the Connecticut by the settlers near Hart- 
ford (§ 50), and several Enghsh settlements on Long Island 
had restricted their territory in that direction. When war 
broke out between England and Holland during the Com- 
monwealth, steps were taken toward conquering New 
Netherland, but peace was declared before the expedition 
was ready. 

A few years later, the English government decided to 
take the initiative against Holland by seizing her North 
American possessions. All of the territory from the Dela- 
ware to the Connecticut, and from the Kennebec to the St. 
Croix, was granted by the king to his brother James, the 
Duke of York. A fleet was dispatched to New Netherland 
under the command of four commissioners, who were also 
to bring Massachusetts to terms (§ 73). New Amsterdam 
surrendered at once because the citizens refused to fight, 
much to the disgust of the wrathy governor, Stuyvesant, 
and the rest of New Netherland surrendered without delay. 
Several years later, during another war between England 
and Holland, New Netherland was recaptured by the 
Dutch, but after a brief period was returned to the English 
by the Treaty of Westminster (1675). 

64. The English in New York (1664-1685). — A large 
percentage of the inhabitants of New Netherland in 1664 
were English, so that the transition from Dutch to English 
rule was not difficult. A great many laws in force in New 
England were introduced, but most of the Dutch practices 
also were recognized. The local government was reor- 
ganized so as to give the people a slightly greater share in its 
work, but the Duke of York would not allow an assembly 
to be called. Many of the English settlers demanded a 
representative government, the Puritans on Long Island 
being particularly insistent, but no action was taken until 
1684. In that year the first assembly of the colony distin- 
guished itself by passing a charter of franchises and liberties' 



i68o] New York 69 

which provided for reHgious toleration, allowed all free- 
holders to vote, and permitted no taxation without the con- 
sent of the people's representatives. This charter was 
ratified by the Duke of York, but was rejected by him later 
when, on the death of Charles II, he became king of England 
with the title of James II. In the year 1684 also Governor 
Dongan negotiated with the Iroquois a treaty which gained 
for the English the friendship and help of those able war- 
riors in the long contest with the French which began soon 
after. 

The Quaker Colonies 

65. New Jersey and the Quakers. — Before the conquest The two 
of New Netherland, the Duke of York granted the territory Jerseys, 
between the Hudson and the Delaware to two of his favorites, 
Sir George Carteret and Sir John Berkeley. They were liberal Andrews, 
to the colonists, and the inhabitants, many of whom were ^^^' -^^^"^'^^^ 

' ' -^ lOI-III. 

immigrants from New England, enjoyed a large degree of 

religious and political freedom, but they quarreled with the 

proprietors over the making of laws and the payment of 

land rents, and in 1674 Berkeley sold his share of New 

Jersey, the western half, to a Quaker who was probably 

acting for many others of his sect. 

The society of Friends, or Quakers, had been organized in The Quakers. 

England by George Fox just before the middle of the West jersey. 

seventeenth century. The Quakers believed that a person 

should be guided chiefly by his conscience and not by the Andrews, 

dictates of church or writings. For others as well as them- ^"^' ^^^/- Gov't, 

. 113-124. 

selves they claimed the right of worshipmg m the way they 

pleased, so that they were always in favor of religious tolera- 
tion. They advocated the doctrine of the fellowship of ^nd Quaker 
man and carried their belief in equality so far that they re- Cols., 11, 109- 
fused to remove their hats even in the presence of the king. ^^3. 140-147- 
Desiring to found in the new world a colony in which they 
might carry their principles into effect, the Quakers made 
settlements on the east bank of the Delaware and established 
an extremely liberal government which they were never able 



70 



American History 



[1680 



Pennsylvania 
charter (1681). 

MacDonald, 
Charters, 
No. 38. 



Andrews, 
Col. Self- Gov' t^ 
165-169, 175- 
177. 

Fiske, Dutch 
and Quaker 
Cols., II, 114- 
118, 147-153- 

Growth and 
inhabitants. 



to put into practice effectively. The success of the Quakers 
in gaining first West Jersey and later control of East Jersey 
was due principally to the interest and ability of William 
Penn. 

66. Penn and His Colony. — Because Penn found it im- 
possible to carry out his ideas regarding society and govern- 
ment in New Jersey, he asked the king for a grant of land 
west of the Delaware River. As he was a man of high rank, 

the son of an admiral 
to whom Charles II 
was indebted in several 
ways, and a friend of 
James, Duke of York, 
he had no difficulty in 
obtaining from the 
king a charter which 
gave him a large terri- 
tory beyond the Dela- 
ware and made him 
proprietor of that 
region with the right 
to govern it, provided 
that all laws should 
be made with the con- 
sent of the freemen 
and sent to England 
for approval. Parliament, however, had the right to levy 
taxes within the colony and the proprietor was obliged to 
appoint an agent through whom the English government 
might exercise some control over the affairs of the province. 
It will be seen that the home government had profited by 
the rather bitter experience it had had with those colonies 
that refused to recognize its authority over them. 

Not only were Penn's religious views advanced, but he had 
long held political ideas which were extreme in the opinion of 
men of that time. His colony during its early years showed 
in marked degree the impress of his personality, and under 




William Penn 



I70I] 



The Quaker Colonies 



71 



his wise and able guidance, grew as no other had done. 
At the end of four years it contained eight thousand inhab- 
itants, and Philadelphia had become the third city on the 
continent. English Quakers came in large numbers, but 
there were numerous Englishmen of different denomina- 
tions, and many Swedes, Hollanders, Germans, Frenchmen, 
and Scotchmen. Most of these were attracted by the well- 
known liberal ideas of Penn and his promise of religious 
freedom and political rights. 

67. The Government of Pennsylvania. — Penn did not 
disappoint his colonists, for as early as 1682 he issued a 
Frame of Government by which he shared with the people 
the powers of government granted to him as proprietor. At 
the same time he announced laws which assured a larger 
number of individual rights than were enjoyed then in any 
other colony in America. At first the government was com- 
posed of a governor and of two large unwieldy houses called 
the council and the assembly, both of which were elected by 
the freemen. All laws were proposed by the governor and 
council, the assembly having no authority except to ratify 
or reject bills under consideration. 

This cumbersome legislature did not work well, and in 
1701 Penn gave the colony a new "Charter of Privileges." 
This reaffirmed religious liberty to all who believed in 
God, and declared that any one who believed in Jesus Christ 
as the Savior of the world was qualified to hold office. The 
charter provided that laws should be made by an assembly, 
and left the local government in th^ hands of the people. 
The charter might be amended by the governor and six 
sevenths of the assembly. Under it, until 1776, Pennsyl- 
vania and Delaware had separate legislatures, although 
ruled by the same governor. 

In his dealings with the Indians, Penn was just and fair. 
His famous treaty of 1682 under the "Penn elm" was said 
by Voltaire to be "the only treaty between savages and 
Christians that was never sworn to and that was never 
broken." Like Roger Williams and many other early 



Andrews, 
Col. Self Gov't, 
189-191, and 
Greene, Pro- 
vincial Amer- 
ica, 230-234. 

Fiske, Dutch 
and Quaker 
Cols., II, 153- 
158, 320-329. 

Early govern- 
ment. 

MacDonald, 

Charters, 

Nos. 40, 41, 44. 

Andrews, 

Col. Self- Gov't, 

182-184, 191- 

194. 

Winsor (ed.), 

America, 

III, 483-489. 



Charter of 
Privileges 
(1701). 

Macdonald, 
Charters, 
No. 46. 

Fiske, 

Quaker Cols. 
II, 309-311- 



Penn and the 
Indians. 

Hart, Contem- 
poraries, 
I, No. 162. 



72 



American History 



[1681 



Fiske, 

Quaker Cols., 
II, 158-166. 

Colonial 
boundary 
disputes. 

Greene, Pro- 
vincial Amer- 
ica, 190-192. 



Penn's grant. 



Andrews 

Co I. Self- Govt., 

171-175. 



Hinsdale, 
Old Northwest, 
98-104, 108- 
iio. 



settlers his aim was to pay the red men a reasonable sum 
for the lands occupied. 

68. Boundaries of Pennsylvania. — The exact boundaries 
of the land granted to Penn in his charter were long in 
dispute because his territory conflicted with that already 
granted to several of the other colonies. Pennsylvania 
was not alone in this heritage of boundary disputes because 
grants overlapped; but, as the latest of the northern colonies, 
her boundary difficulties affected more provinces than those 
of almost any other colony and may be considered in some 
degree typical of the boundary wars waged by most of the 
seventeenth-century pioneers. It would naturally be sup- 
posed that as late as 1681 the geography of the Delaware 
and Susquehanna regions would be known accurately, 
but such was not the case. Penn's grant was to extend 
5° west from the Delaware River and 3° north and south 
along that river.^ Penn, having acquired Delaware in 1682 
and having several settlements in Pennsylvania south of the 
fortieth parallel and desiring a port on Chesapeake Bay, 
argued that the "beginning" of the fortieth parallel, which, 
according to the charter, was the southern boundary of 
Pennsylvania, must have meant the southern boundary of 
the zone which was the fortieth from the equator, that is, 
parallel 39. This claim he could not establish, as the 
northern boundary of Maryland was 40° also, and it was not' 
until 1760 that the English government decided the con- 
troversy by locating the dividing line between the two 
colonies at 39° 42'. The boundary was surveyed by two 
skilled mathematicians. Mason and Dixon, from whom 

* Its southern boundary was a semicircular line drawn from twelve 
miles north and west of New Castle " unto the beginning of the fortieth 
degree of northern latitude and then by a straight line westward." The 
northern bc^ndary was the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of 
northern latitude. As the fortieth parallel had been given as the northern 
boundary of Maryland (§ 54), the expression, the "beginning" of the 
fortieth degree probably meant the same as the fortieth parallel of Balti- 
more's grant, but as a matter of fact, the fortieth parallel is much more 
than twelve miles north of New Castle, so that it would be impossible to 
survey such a line as Penn's southern limit called for. 



760] 



The Quaker Colonies 



73 



it has since been known as "Mason and Dixon's Line," 
a name applied later to the boundary between the slave and 
the free states. 

On the north there was doubt about whether the boundary Northern 
was the forty-third or the forty-second parallel. New York, boundary dis 
wishing to retain as much territory as possible and unwilling 
to grant Pennsylvania any jurisdiction over the six Iroquois 
nations, contended with success for the lower boundary. 
When this bound- 
was decided 



putes. 

Hinsdale, 
Old Northwest, 
110-119. 



North'ern/boundarv-ii^ir Tl 1 t / Jj 

Di luteti M \e« \ rk' I i \ 1 j n ■ ) ' ^ 

, (^ - , lioundarvseleoted liet Nc'Lk^IlT }i-, t 




> I K (. I N I V 






ary 

upon finally, there 
was no longer any 
conflict with Mas- 
sachusetts, which 
did not claim land 
south of 42°. The 
dispute with Con- 
necticut under her 
sea-to-sea charter 
involved an at- 
tempt on the part 
of Connecticut to 
settle the northern 
part of Pennsyl- 
vania, especially Wyoming valley, but the whole territory 
was assigned to Pennsylvania by the Congress of the 
Confederation soon after the Revolutionary War. 

The South after the Restoration (i 660-1 730) 

69. Misgovemment in Virginia (1660-1676). — For 

several years during the Commonwealth the people of Vir- 
ginia attempted in an irregular way to govern themselves, 
but with the restoration of Charles II the old order was re- 
established. During the years following the Restoration, 
Sir William Berkeley was governor of Virginia. Of a 
despotic temper, he used his office to the personal advan- 
tage of himself and his royal master, appointing worthless 



BOLMiAlll DltsrLTLJs OF P_EA>SYLVANIi. 



Political griev- 
ances. 



Andrews, 
Col. Self- Gov'ts 
207-214. 



74 



American History 



[1660 



Doyle, 
Etig. Cols., 
I, 230-245. 



Economic 
grievances. 

Fiske, Old Vir- 
ginia,\l,^6-s^. 



Bacon and 

Berkeley. 



Larned (ed.), 
Ready Re/., 
V, 3632-3634. 



Andrews, 

Col. Self-Govt, 

215-226. 



nobles to positions of importance and profit. To main- 
tain better his hold on the government, he kept in office the 
strongly royalist legislature elected during the excitement 
following the return of Charles II. For three years no elec- 
tion occurred in Virginia, the appointive system now being 
used exclusively for local offices. Meanwhile the electoral 
law was changed so as to exclude all but freeholders, a select 
class in a colony of plantations. Corruption and misrule 
held sway in both colonial and local affairs. 

The discontent due to these grievances was aggravated 
by the navigation act of 1660 which forbade the exportation 
of tobacco to any country but England (§ 58). Prices fell 
and hard times prevailed. As though this were not enough, 
Charles, in 1673, rented Virginia for thirty-one years to two 
of his favorites, Arlington and Culpepper, They received 
the right to make grants of land, hatd the absolute control 
of the important local offices, and appointed all pastors. 
Fortunately most of these privileges were surrendered in 
return for a duty on tobacco, showing that the patentees 
were chiefly interested in the revenue to be obtained from 
the colony. 

70. Bacon's Rebellion (1676). — The discontent of the 
Virginians was brought to a head by Indian massacres on 
the frontier. Governor Berkeley had erected forts for the 
protection of the outlying settlements and refused to send 
troops or grant commissions to raise troops. Thereupon 
Nathaniel Bacon, a young and headstrong but able planter 
whose overseer had been murdered, gathered a force, and, 
defying Berkeley's orders, marched into the Indian country. 
The colony was now in great disorder and demanded a new 
election of burgesses. This was held, Bacon being among 
those chosen. The new legislature repealed the restrictive 
suffrage law and enacted other laws granting greater civil 
and political liberty. Bacon and Berkeley made their 
peace, which was broken soon, as neither had confidence in 
the other. During the civil strife that ensued, Jamestown 
was burned and Bacon died, the rebellion collapsing with 



charters. 

MacDonald, 
Charters, 



1676] TJie South after the Restoration 75 

his death. Berkeley, again supreme, hanged the leaders of 
the rebellion and secured the repeal of many liberal laws 
which had been passed in 1676.^ Unfortunately the rebel- 
lion deprived the colony of a very liberal charter which lacked 
only the king's signature at the beginning of the disturbance. 

71. The Carolina Charters (1663-1665). — The interest Provisions 
taken in colonial matters during the years following the of the two 
Restoration is shown clearly in the early history of Carolina. 
Several of the most prominent courtiers, including Claren- 
don and Shaftesbury, obtained from Charles in 1663 a 
charter which made them proprietors of the land lying south nos. 26, 32. 
of Virginia and extending from sea to sea. Over this vast 
domain the absolute power of the proprietors was limited Andrews, 
only by the provision that the laws should be made with the Col. Seif-GovH 
consent of the freemen represented in an assembly and ^^o-^S • 
that "the faith, allegiance and sovereign domain" due to 

the crown should not be impaired. Perhaps the most notable 
clause of the charter was the one permitting the proprietors 
to grant perfect religious freedom to such of the loyal settlers 
as they desired — a clause of which we are glad to say 
advantage was taken. Two years later the limits of the 
colony were extended still further south and one half de- 
gree farther north, making the boundary between Virginia 
and the new colony of Carolina practically the same as the 
present southern boundary of Virginia. 

72. Proprietary Govemment in Carolina (166 7- 1 72 9). — Locke's 
For the government of their Carolina province very elaborate Fundamental 
" Fundamental Constitutions " were drawn for the pro- (1559) 
prietors by the philosopher, John Locke. This cumber- 
some document provided for a feudal system in which the j^^^^j^o^aid 
chief landowners were the proprietors and nobles whom charters, 
they appointed. No land was to be sold after forty years, so No. 33. 

as to make this mediaeval system permanent. The govern- 
ment was to be in the hands of the proprietors and nobles, 

1 King Charles II is reported to have said of Berkeley: "That old fool 
has hanged more men in that naked country than I have done for the 
murder of my father." 



7(> 



American History 



[1655 



Andrews, 

Col. Self- Govt, 

139-141. 

Fiske, Old 
Virginia, 
II, 272-276, 



Social and 
political 
changes 
(1670-1729). 

Winsor (ed.), 
America, 
¥.311-316, 
322-327. 



although there was to be a parliament for members of which 
all freeholders owning estates of fifty acres might vote. A 
degree of religious liberty was permitted to churches of 
at least seven members, though not to separate individuals. 
It is needless to say that these constitutions never went into 
effect. The proprietors waited until the development of 
the colonies should warrant their use, but that time never 
came. 

The growth of Carolina was by no means rapid and few 
settlements were added in northern Carolina to those exist- 
ing when the proprietors received their patent. In southern 
CaroHna Charleston was founded in 1672 and a few other 
towns begun by the English. A large percentage of the 
inhabitants were Scotch highlanders and French Hu gue- 
nots drawn thither by the promise of religious freedom. 
Political liberty also was enjoyed to an unusual degree, for 
the people exerted a great influence in local government 
and their representatives chose part of the council or upper 
house of the legislature. The time came when the voters 
believed that the proprietors were selecting more than their 
share of the councilors. A rebellion followed (17 19), with 
an overwhelming victory for the people, who selected a 
governor and asked the king to accept South Carolina as a 
royal province, which he did. Ten years later all rights 
of the proprietors were extinguished by purchase. 



Quakers in 

Massachusetts 

(1655-1660). 



Hart, Contem- 
poraries, 
I, Nos. 140-142. 



Doyle, 
Eng. Cols., 
Ill, 100-114. 



Nev^ England (1655-1685) 

73. Problems of New England (1655-1675). — During 
the later years of the Commonwealth the Puritan colonies 
had considerable trouble with the Quakers, who were 
driven out from England by harsh measures. Severe laws 
were made by the colonies in the New England Confederacy, 
particularly against those who returned after being sent 
away. Massachusetts in 1658 made it a capital offense for 
any Quaker to return to the colony. This law was op- 
posed by a large part of the population and when it was 
enforced by putting to death three Quakers, the protests 




1675] New England after tJie Restoration yj 

were so loud that the law was changed. In fact after 1660 
the colony was much more liberal in its treatment of non- 
Puritans than it had been before. 

Soon after Charles II came to the throne in 1660, he united New charters. 
the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven by giving a 
charter to the former, as New Haven had incurred the royal MacDonaid, 
displeasure by harboring judges who had condemned to Charters, 
death Charles I. Rhode Island and Providence also re- ° ' ^^ ^^' 
ceived a charter in 1663. 

A number of complaints had been made against Massa- Massachusetts 

chusetts at this time, because she had been domineering in ^"^1 the king 

her treatment of her weaker neighbors and on account of ° ^ '*^' 

her independent spirit. Under the ..-.v^u/ 

Commonwealth, e.g. she had coined ^"- m^^^^^ 

''pine tree shillings," thus exercising f"^. '*^ "'"'^" ^-i— *a.«*^ 

a sovereign power, and in 1661 she 

had issued a declaration of rights. ' 

Nevertheless the charter of Massa- > _^ 

chusetts was confirmed by Charles ^>& 

in 1662, on condition that the 

, , , Pine Tree Shilling 

colony acknowledge the supremacy 

of England and grant to members of the Anglican church Andrews, 

freedom of worship and the right to vote on the same C""^- Self- Govt 

T J • 1 47~48, 70-72. 

terms as Puritans. In form Massachusetts complied with 
these requests which affected so deeply her religious and 
political policy, but no change was made in her relations 
with England, and, as her ministers alone registered those 
eligible to vote, members of the church of England did not 
often enjoy a share in the government. In 1664 the com- 
missioners who had charge of the expedition against New 
Netherland (§63) were instructed to investigate affairs in 
New England also. These men complained that Massa- 
chusetts was not fulfilling the conditions imposed by the 
king in 1662, but the home government was too much in- 
terested in other matters to correct her refractory colony 
until ten years later. 

74. King Philip's War (1675-1676). — The constant en- 



78 



American History 



[1675 



Events and 
results. 



Andrews, 

Col. Self- Gov't, 



Hart, Contem- 
poraries, 
I, Nos. 133,134. 



Larned (ed.), 
Ready Ref., 
Ill, 2310-2313, 



Complaints 
against 

Massachusetts. 



Andrews, 

Col. Self- Gov't, 

256-262. 



croachments of the English settlers on the lands of the In- 
dians made collision inevitable. Under the lead of Philip, 
chief of the Wampanoags, these Indians agreed with other 
tribes to exterminate the whites. The first blow was 
struck in June, 1675, at Swansea in Plymouth, near the 
Rhode Island border. Other towns were burned and the 
inhabitants were slain, the war parties retiring before help 
could come from other settlements. After six months of 
this horrible border warfare a thousand men were sent against 
the stronghold of the Narragansetts, which was captured 
after severe loss and completely destroyed. From this time 
the warfare increased in bitterness on the one side and bar- 
barity on the other until in August, 1676, Philip was killed 
and the last Indian braves were hunted from their retreats. 
Many of the luckless survivors of this struggle, including 
women and children, were sent to the West Indies to be sold 
into slavery. By this pitiless course all danger from the 
red men was removed, but the colonies were left in an ex- 
hausted condition. Many of the towns had been entirely 
destroyed, hundreds of men had been killed, crops had been 
burned so that famine was narrowly averted, and trade had 
almost ceased. 

75. Massachusetts and the Crown (1675-1684). — Mat- 
ters had now reached a crisis in the Bay colony. The in- 
difference of Massachusetts to the demands of the English 
government and her arrogance in her treatment of those 
with whom she had dealings, especially in New Hamp- 
shire and Maine, culminated in a series of complaints so 
serious that definite action was taken against Massachu- 
setts. Among the more serious charges were: (i) her dis- 
regard of the rights of the Mason and Gorges heirs along the 
coast to the north; (2) the failure to give political and re- 
ligious rights to non-Puritans in accordance with the requests 
of the king (1662) ; (3) the evasion of the acts of trade which 
forbade commerce with nations other than England; and 
(4) the general independent attitude of the colonists shown 
in their separate coinage of money, their refusal to allow 



1685] New England after the Restoration 79 

appeals from colonial courts to those of the king, and their 
neglect to send to England an agent through whom the 
colony might be controlled. 

The case of New Hampshire was settled by making the Revocation of 
colony a royal province. Massachusetts tried to end that *'^^ charter 
of Maine by purchasing the rights of the Gorges heirs, but 
as this was done without the knowledge or consent of King 
Charles, it aroused still greater feeling against Massachusetts. ^^^ seif-Govt 
During this period the business of the English government 262-265. 
in the colony was intrusted to Edward Randolph, an honest 
but exceedingly narrow man and a partisan of Massa- 
chusetts' enemies, who used his authority in such a way as 
to widen the breach between the mother country and the 
none too conciliatory Puritan leaders. Although Massa- 
chusetts, taking alarm at last, agreed to yield on every ques- 
tion, the king was in no mood for half measures and in 1684 
the charter of the colony was annulled. At this time Charles 
had come very largely under the influence of Louis XIV of 
France, and was showing himself a monarch fond of abso- 
lute government. Not only did he deprive Massachusetts of 
her charter, with good reason it must be admitted, but he 
proceeded also against the charters of London and other 
English cities, and before his death prepared to annul the 
charters of the inoffensive colonies of Rhode Island and 
Connecticut. 

The Great Revolution (i 685-1 700) 



76. The Dominion of New England. — Before 1685 many Consolidation 

Enghsh merchants and officials had favored the consoli- ^^ ^^^ northern 
dation of the northern colonies under a single governor 
who could then govern them more perfectly in the interests 

of England. The death of Charles II in 1685 left the exe- ^^^ sei'f-GmJ't 

cution of this plan to James II who was more opposed to 265-272. 
popular government than his brother had been. Under 

the name of the Dominion of New England, James united Fiske, 

all the colonies from Acadia to the Delaware, naming Sir New Ertgiand, 

Edmund Andros as governor. The difficulty caused by ^ 7-272- 



8o 



American History 



[1685 



Doyle, 
Eng. Cols., 
Ill, 234-236, 
242-249. 



Government 
of the 
Dominion. 



Doyle, 
Eng. Cols,, 
III, 234-239. 



Changes 
affecting 
church and 
society. 



Doyle, 
E?ig. Cols., 
Ill, 239-243. 



the existence of charters in Rhode Island and Connecticut 
was solved by demanding the surrender of those documents. 
Rhode Island agreed to submit and Connecticut did not hold 
out, although she failed to part with her charter, tradition 
asserting that when Andros sought to obtain it, the charter 
was spirited away and hidden in the "charter oak." 

Full and arbitrary instructions were issued to Andros 
by the king. The governor, who was a soldier rather than 
a politician, obeyed the letter of his instructions, carrying 
out the wishes of James with such care and so little tact that 
the period of his rule is often referred to as "the tyranny of 
Andros." During his term no popular assembly was called 
nor was any town allowed to hold town meetings except once 
a year. Laws were made and taxes levied by the governor 
and councilors appointed by Andros, being executed by 
agents of the governor. There were no courts except those 
held by judges whom the governor selected. No papers 
or books were printed unless they first received the approval 
of James's representatives. 

This arbitrary government was of course offensive to 
people who were sticklers for their political rights, but it 
caused even less opposition to the new administration than 
certain acts which affected religious prejudices and the 
rights of property. Preference was given now to the An- 
glican church and services were held according to the rites 
of the church of England in the Old South meeting hou^e. 
Marriages could be celebrated only by an Anglican clergy- 
man, and as there was but one in the colony all persons who 
wished to marry must journey to Boston, a trip as tedious 
as the service itself was distasteful. Many who held lands 
with titles in dispute were obliged to prove their rights at 
great cost, the impression being general that no one's land 
was safe from attack. Under these circumstances there was 
little wonder that in Massachusetts at least the caldron of 
revolution was on the point of boiling over. 

77. The Revolution of 1689 in England and New Eng- 
land. — This happened when news was brought in April, 



1 691] The Great Revolution 



1689, that William of Orange had landed in England and Causes and 
that Tames had fled from the kingdom. During the three results m 

*' & & England. 

years of his reign James had incurred the displeasure and 
aroused the opposition of class after class of the population. 
His claim that he might suspend any law he pleased, coupled £,j^iand 
with his attempt to control the courts for his own benefit, his 500-514. 
open help to Cathohcs, and his utter disregard for the civil 
rights which the people had wrested from his father and 
brother, united the nation against him. So long as the 
people expected that at his death the crown would pass to 
his daughter, Mary, and her husband, his nephew, William 
of Orange, they remained passive, but when a prince was 
born who would probably be brought up a Catholic, a num- 
ber of leaders invited William to come to England and help 
them preserve their liberties. With the flight of James and 
the selection by the people's representatives of William and 
Mary as the rulers of England, the long contest between 
parliament and the king ended in the complete supremacy 
of the former. The principal results of the revolution were 
embodied in the Bill of Rights (1689) and in several supple- 
mentary acts. They assured the frequent meetings of par- 
liament, and control by that body of taxation, the army, and 
other important subjects; they guaranteed freedom of the 
press and religious toleration for all Protestants ; and they 
prevented the king from setting aside laws or removing 
judges at his pleasure. 

When news of James's flight reached Massachusetts, Reestabiish- 
the frigate in the harbor and all fortifications about Boston "^^"* o^ 
were seized, Andros and other officials were imprisoned, and government in 
a temporary government similar to that under the old New England, 
charter was established. There was no bloodshed, but the 
overthrow of the government of Andros was complete. MacDonaid, 
Rhode Island and Connecticut resumed the use of their ^^^^'^^''■^. 

No. 42. 

charters, which they had never surrendered, but Massa- 
chusetts did not have a regularly organized government 
until in 1691 a new charter of a semi-popular type was 
issued by William and Mary. To Massachusetts Bay Colony 



82 



American History 



[1691 



Hart, Contetn- 
poraries, 
I, No. 136. 



Fiske, 

New England, 



Leisler's 
Rebellion. 



Andrews, 

Col. Self- Gov't, 

283-287. 

Hart, Contem- 
poraries, 
I, No. 157. 



Results in 
Maryland. 

Andrews, 

Col. Self- Gov't, 

79-283. 

Browne, 

Maryland, 

147-156. 



were added Plymouth and the islands south of Plymouth, 
as well as the English provinces beginning with Maine 
eastward to Acadia, which was included. The people were 
allowed to resume the government of their towns by town 
meetings and were also permitted to elect an assembly, the 
assembly in turn choosing the governor's council. The 
governor, the lieutenant governor, and the secretary were 
appointed by the crown, as in New York and Virginia. 
Under this quite liberal charter Massachusetts was governed 
until her separation from Great Britain (1776). 

78. Revolutionary Movements in the Middle and South- 
em Colonies. — In New York (the lower part of the Do- 
minion of New England) Andros's lieutenant, Nicholson, 
attempted to maintain his authority after news had been 
received that James had been driven from England, and 
that Andros was a prisoner at Boston. Taking advan- 
tage of this, the opponents of Nicholson, led by a merchant, 
Jacob Leisler, gained possession of the province. The new 
monarchs were proclaimed, an assembly was called, and for 
nearly two years the laws were administered by Leisler, 
whose authority was not recognized officially. When a 
governor was finally sent over, Leisler, now cordially hated 
by a large part of the population, yielded of necessity. He 
was tried on the charge of treason and condemned, being put 
to death when his successor, while intoxicated, was induced 
to sign his death warrant. This unwise and unjust ''judicial 
murder" involved the colony in serious internal dissensions. 
"Leisler's Rebellion," however, had shown the strength of 
the popular party and from that time New York enjoyed a 
fair degree of self-government. 

Maryland failed to proclaim the new monarchs because 
the messenger whom Baltimore had sent with instructions 
to recognize the new government died before reaching the 
colony. The anti-Catholic party took advantage of this 
neglect, captured the officials who favored Baltimore, and 
claimed the province for William and Mary. The monarchs 
decided to keep the government of Maryland in their own 



1700] The Great Revolution 83 

hands, although they did not interfere with the revenues or Doyle, 
land rights of Baltimore, but it was a quarter century be- ^^^' ^^^•^•• 
fore another and Protestant Lord Baltimore regained politi- 
cal control of the colony. 

79. Results of the Revolution in America. — It will be Reestabiish- 
noted that the changes in America following the Revolu- "^*^"^ °^ ^^P''^- 
tion of 1680 were of the first magnitude. It will be noted ^ ^ , 

^ ^ governments. 

also that they were not the results simply of the revolutionary 
movement in England, but of several minor revolutions in ^ 

^ ' Greene, 

this country, which were due to causes exclusively American, Provincial 
although the expulsion of James furnished the occasion for America, 
the overthrow of arbitrary rule in the colonies. Through- ■^7-24- 
out the Dominion of New England the arbitrary govern- 
ment established by James was replaced by constitutional 
government. Connecticut and Rhode Island resumed the 
use of their old charters. Massachusetts secured less com- 
plete self-government than she had enjoyed before 1684, 
but in New York there was a great advance over the system 
in use at all former times. A second result of considerable 
importance was the failure of the scheme for the consolida- 
tion of the colonies. Union, even under the later kings, 
would have been injurious, for the colonies owed a very 
large amount of their experience in self-government and 
their numerous political privileges to their separateness. 

In some ways the reign of William III was not Colonial 
especially favorable to colonial liberty. The king expressly P^^^^jy °/ 

. , . , England 

and emphatically denied to the colonies the rights which ^^^^^ ^^g^^ 
the Bill of Rights guaranteed throughout the length and 
breadth of England. Religious toleration of all except ^^.^g^g^ 
Catholics was extended to the colonies, but if any colo- provincial 
nies enjoyed freedom of the press and the privilege of the America, 
writ of habeas corpus, it was because the charters of the ^°~^ '"^ 
colonies made it impossible for the monarch to control their 
policy in those matters. The increase of the power of par- 
liament due to the Revolution led to the reenactment of the 
old laws of trade and the passage of several laws prohibiting 
colonial manufactures (§ 120). During this period also 



84 



Amei'ican History 



[1700 



the English government perfected means for controUing the 
colonies by establishing a permanent *' Board of Trade and 
Plantations" (1696), whose members were popularly called 
'^the Lords of Trade." This board gradually took charge 
of almost all matters referring to the colonies, including 
the right to decide all matters which had been adjudged in 
the highest court of any colony, if either party wished to 
appeal from the decision of the colonial court. 

80. The Colonies in 1700. — It may be well to con- 
sider for a moment the changes in the extent of English 
territory and in the relation of the colonies to the mother 
country that had taken place in the last four decades of the 
seventeenth century. At the time of the Restoration there 
had been two well-defined groups of colonies, the New 
England group, extending as far north as the Kennebec, and 
the southern colonies, with their frontier settlements a short 
distance south of the James. By the conquest of New Neth- 
erland, England came into possession of the intervening 
territory and by settlements in Carolina had extended the 
frontier almost to the Savannah River. Although the 
settlers had continued to push into the interior, the frontier 
line was but little farther from the coast in 1700 than in 
1660. Immigration from England had been fairly exten- 
sive and the population of the colonies, estimated at 60,000 
in 1660, had become 250,000 in 1700. 

Before 1660 England had no colonial policy. Since the 
Restoration it had organized the colonies, brought many of 
them directly under the royal authority, and had created 
a board which had charge of all colonial affairs. It had 
passed numerous acts of trade which regulated the com- 
merce of the colonies, primarily in the interests of England, 
but not always to the disadvantage of the colonies. 



TOPICS 

I. The Beginning of Pennsylvania: Fiske, "Dutch and 
Quaker Colonies," II, pp. 147-167; Bancroft, "United States," 
I> 552-573; Winsor (ed.), "America," III, pp. 476-495. 



1700] LateVj English Colonization 85 

2. Boundary Difficulties of Pennsylvania: Hinsdale, "Old 
Northwest," 98-119; Fisher, "Making of Pennsylvania," pp. 318- 

354- 

3. Bacon's Rebellion: Fiske, "Old Virginia," pp. 45-107; 
Doyle, "English Colonies," I, pp. 230-257; Cooke, "Virginia," 
pp. 216-297. 

4. King Philip's War: Bancroft, "United States," I, 382-394; 
Fiske, "New England," pp. 211-241; Doyle, "English Colonies," 
III, pp. 153-189. 

5. Massachusetts and the Crown, during Reign of Charles 
II: Bancroft, "United States," I, 367-381,395-406; Doyle, "Col- 
onies," III, pp. 130-152, 190-208, 214-226; Palfrey, "New Eng- 
land," II, pp. 28-36, 56-63, 71-80, 210-260. 

STUDIES 

1. Early navigation acts. (Winsor (ed.), "America," VI, pp. 5-10.) 

2. The patroon system. (MacDonald, "Charters," No. 9.) 

3. Wars of England and Holland. (Griffis, Motley's "Dutch 
Republic," pp. 832-847.) 

4. Evolution of New York. (Janvier, "In Old New York.") 

5. Early history of Wall Street. (Goodwin e/ a/, (eds.), "History 
of New York," I, pp. 77-118.) 

6. Character of William Penn. 

7. Overthrow of proprietary government in South Carolina. 
Doyle, *' English Colonies," I, 376-380. 

8. Puritans and Anglicans after the revolution of 1689. (Greene, 
"Provincial America," pp. 83-105.) 

QUESTIONS 

I. What degree of self-government had the people of New Nether- 
land gained under Dutch rule? What were the lasting results of 
Dutch occupation? Compare the situation in New Netherland in 
1663 with that in the South African Republic in 1898. 

■ 2. Compare fully the powers of Penn as proprietor with those 
of Baltimore. In what respects was Pennsylvania at an early date 
more like the states of to-day than any of the other colonies ? 

3. What were the real causes of Bacon's rebellion ? What were the 
results and the real significance of this movement ? 

4. On what grounds might a colonial charter be amended? be 
revoked? Should Massachusetts have been allowed to retain her 
charter after 1664? Compare the complaints after 1660 with those 
after 1676. Were the latter more serious? 

5. Compare the period 1618-1640 with that from 1660 to 1682 as 
to (a) interest in colonization, (6) causes of colonization, (c) number of 
colonies established, and {d) total settled area at close of the period. 



CHAPTER V 



RIVALRY OF FRENCH AND ENGLISH (1689-1763) 
French Kings English Rulers 



Henry IV (1589- 16 10) 
Louis XIII (1610-1643) 
Louis XIV (1643-1715) 
Louis XV (1715-1774) 



William III (1689-1702) 
Anne (1702-1714) 

George I (i 714-1727) 
George II (i 727-1 760) 
George III (i 760-1820) 



Wars between 
France and 
England. 



Seelye, 
Expatision 
of England, 
Chapter II. 



81. Introduction. — The year 1689 is notable for the 
changes which it wrought in the internal development of 
England and the English colonies, but is almost as impor- 
tant in the intercolonial history of America, because it marks 
the beginning of a long conflict between the provinces of 
England and France in the new world. During the years 
from 1689 to 1750 the European wars in which these two 
countries engaged were accompanied naturally by military 
engagements in the colonies, although these were of minor 
significance. About 1750 began the real contest between 
the two powers for the control of the continent — a struggle 
short and really one-sided, which ended in the complete 
supremacy of the English and the expulsion of the French 
from North America. In this chapter we shall consider not 
only the more important events in the intercolonial wars 
and study the progress of both French and English colonies 
after 1689, but shall take up briefly also the earlier history 
of the interesting ventures of the French in America. 

French Exploration and Settlement 

France under 82. Founding of New France. — With the accession of 

Henry IV. Henry IV (1589), there came a new era of prosperity in 

France. Deadly civil and religious wars ceased, commerce 

86 



i6o8] French Exploration and Settlement 



S7 



revived, and industry received new impetus. Interest in 
colonization kept pace with the development in other direc- 
tions, and several settlements were attempted in Acadia. 
One of these under the lead of De Monts was established at 
Port Royal (1604) and proved successful temporarily. 

Among the companions of De Monts was a young man of 
great energy and foresight, who believed that the St. Law- 
rence basin offered a better location for trading, exploration, 
and permanent settlement. This man, Samuel de Cham- 
plain, founded Quebec in 1608 and soon perceived that his 
only hope of holding 
the country and gain- 
ing the interior was to 
make friends with the 
Indians of the St. Law- 
rence valley. But the 
Algonquins living on 
the St. Lawrence and 
the Ottawa rivers, to- 
gether with the Huron 
Indians to the west, had 
for many years waged 
almost incessant war 
with the Five Nations of the Long House in central NewYork. 
The allies of Champlain persuaded him therefore to join 
them in expeditions against the Iroquois. The first of these 
in 1609 brought him to the shores of the lake now called by 
his name, where a single well-aimed shot from his arquebus 
put to flight the Mohawks who opposed him and brought 
upon the French the enmity of the most powerful Indian 
confederacy in North America. A few weeks after this 
momentous battle, Henry Hudson entertained some Mo- 
hawks at a point near the present city of Albany, only a little 
over one hundred miles away, and gained the goodwill of 
the Iroquois. Although he was responsible for this disas- 
trous hostility of the Iroquois to the French, Champlain 
deserves all the credit for the success of New France, for he 




Champlain 



Adams, 
French Nation^ 
177-188. 



Champlain in 
the St. Law- 
rence valley 
(1608-1635). 



Hart, Contem- 
poraries, 
I, No. 39. 



Thwaites, 
France in 
America, 16-22 

Parkman, 
Struggle for 
a Co?ttinent, 
88-106, 
120-124. 



88 



Americaii History 



[1629 



Classes that 
extended 
French sway. 



Parkman, 

Struggle for 
a Continent, 

130-134. 
180-185. 



Early ex- 
plorers. 
La Salle. 



Fiske, Disc. 
of America, 
11, 53-58. 

Hart, Contem- 
poraries, 



I, No. 43. 



took part in numerous exploring expeditions and kept the 
sickly little hamlet alive through his unflagging zeal and 
unwearied efforts. In 1629, however, Quebec was captured 
by the English with the help of some French Huguenots, 
and it was returned to France at the close of the war only 
through the influence of Richelieu, who had recently inter- 
ested himself in France's American possessions. In 1635 
Champlain died and so little did New France prosper that 
a half century after Quebec was founded there were only 
about two thousand persons in the colony. 

83. Exploration of the West. — The work of extending 
French influence in the West was carried on by three differ- 
ent classes: (i) the Jesuit missionaries who, before the 
middle of the seventeenth century, had established missions 
as far south as the Iroquois country, and as far west as Sault 
Ste. Marie; (2) the fur traders who found they could make 
greater profits by visiting the more distant tribes; and (3) the 
explorers who desired to extend the political sway of France 
rather than her religious or commercial interests. 

The earliest of western explorers, NicoUet, launched 
his canoe on a tributary of the Mississippi about 1640, but 
it was not until 1673 that Marquette and Joliet explored 
that river, which they descended as far as the Arkansas. 
The work of these men was completed by the greatest 
American explorer, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, who 
proposed to gain possession of the whole interior and main- 
tain this hold by means of a chain of forts situated at strategic 
points. In spite of almost overwhelming odds and amid the 
greatest difficulties, he clung to his single purpose of making 
New France the strongest colony in America. His explora- 
tions began in 1669 with a trip via Lake Erie to the Ohio 
River. Ten years later he sought to explore the Mississippi 
to its mouth. After two futile expeditions filled with diffi- 
culties, his third expedition met with success and on April 9, 
1682, La Salle planted the standard of France where the 
Mississippi River pours its vast volume into the Gulf of 
Mexico and claimed the whole territory drained by it for 



1720] French Exploration and Settlement 89 

Louis XIV. He next proceeded to France, told the king 
his plans, and asked permission to settle at the mouth of the 
Mississippi, to build a chain of forts from this point to the 
colony of Canada, and to drive out the Spaniards who claimed 
the country. An expedition was fitted out, but by accident 
came to Texas. Here La Salle was shot in 1687 by one of 
his own men. 

84. Louisiana (1699-1720). — La Salle's plan was not Early 
abandoned, although nothing further was done until after settlement. 
the first intercolonial war. In 1699 a settlement was made 

at Biloxi, but it was abandoned, the colonists moving to Hart, c^^/^/w- 

Mobile in 1701. Both the English and the Spanish pro- nos. 109, lio. 
tested against this occupancy of the gulf region, the former 

on the ground that this land was covered by previous grants ^, 

. . ° Thwaites, 

made by English kings, the latter because of her discoveries Frajice in 

and explorations and her settlements in Florida and on the America, 

Mexican coast. The Spaniards had in fact occupied the ^^~ " 
best harbor on the coast, that of Pensacola, as early as 1606, 

^ J ^ ^ Ogg, Missis- 

in the hope of preventing further French attempts at coloni- ^^p^\^ 169-204. 
zation. Louisiana did not grow rapidly, but in 17 18 New 
Orleans was founded and forts were placed at commanding Parkman, 
points on the Mississippi and Red rivers, so that all other Half Century, 
nations were effectively excluded from the Mississippi basin, ' ^ ~^^^' 
About this time attention was called to the Louisiana set- 
tlements by the speculations in the stock of the French 
Mississippi company under the manipulations of the Scotch- 
man, John Law. The bursting of the "Mississippi Bubble" 
did much in the end to injure the colony. 

French and English Colonies (1689-17 54) 

85. The Treaty of Utrecht (1713). — Before the French Beginning of 
had gained a foothold at the mouth of the Mississippi, the *^^^ hundred 
colony of New France became engaged in two conflicts with (1689-1697). 
the English on the Atlantic coast. These wars were of Euro- 
pean origin, caused by differences between France and Eng- 
land. The first followed the Revolution of 1689 and the 

attempt made by Louis XIV to regain the throne of England 



90 



American History 



[1689 



War of the 
Spanish Suc- 
cession 
(1702-17 13). 



Treaty of 
Utrecht (1713). 



MacDonald, 
Charters, 

No. 47. 



for James II. For the French, the contest in America was 
ably conducted by the most capable of a long line of able 
governors, the Count of Frontenac. At the close of the 
war the French retained the territory draining into the 
Hudson Bay and all lands occupied by them at the begin- 
ning of the conflict.^ 

But five years elapsed before the ambitions of France 
again involved that country in a European conflict,^ when 
Louis XIV sought to place upon the throne of Spain his 
grandson, Philip of Anjou, to whom the late Spanish king 
had left his scepter. The coalition against France was 
remarkably successful during the long war that followed, 
and in America the English colonists gained possession of 
territory in Acadia, Newfoundland, and farther north. 

The war was brought to a close in 17 13 by the Treaty of 
Utrecht. England was able to make peace on very favor- 
able terms because of her successes everywhere. She 
allowed Philip to retain his position, but only on condition 
that the two thrones of France and Spain should never be 
united. While France was permitted to keep Canada and 
Louisiana, England gained possession of the entire area 
draining into Hudson Bay, the whole of Newfoundland, 
and Acadia according to its most ancient limits. This last 
provision was to be a bone of contention for fifty years, as 
France wished to restrict England to the peninsula called 
Nova Scotia and England claimed Cape Breton Island and 
the mainland to the north and west as far as the St. Lawrence 
and the Penobscot. According to the treaty the French 
were allowed to catch fish off Newfoundland, with the privi- 
lege of drying their fish on parts of the island, the earHest 
attempt to regulate by treaty the rights of different nations 
in the fisheries.^ 



^ The Treaty of Ryswick (1697) brought to a close this war, known in 
colonial history as King William's War. 

2 In the colonies this war was called Queen Anne's War, in Europe it 
was known as the War of the Spanish Succession. 

^ The treaty stated also that France should never molest the Five 
Nations "subject to the dominion of Great Britain." France of course 



1750] French and English after i68g 91 

86. Georgia. — The thirty years between the Treaty of Peaceful 
Utrecht and the third war between England and France was growth 
a period of expansion and development for both parties. ^^713-1744;- 
With both it was a time of preparation for the conflict 
which was to determine the possession of the continent, but 
the preparation of the French, carefully planned as it was, 
proved to be less perfect than the growth of the sturdy 
English colonies which were less conscious of the impending 
crisis and apparently did nothing to make ready for it. 
The two historical events of the period which particularly 
deserve attention were the settlement of Georgia and the 
conflicts between the governors and the assemblies in a 
majority of the colonies. 

Georgia was founded by James Edward Oglethorpe and Georgia 
several associates who desired to establish a colony in which (^731-1752). 
debtors might get a new start. They obtained from the 
king a charter to land from the Savannah to the Altamaha ^^'^^' Cohtem- 

1 1 1 T^ •/- rm • 1 1 poraries, II, 

rivers and westward to the Pacific. 1 his was to be governed -^^^ 
by a council in which the people had no choice. The in- 
habitants, except Roman Catholics, were to have religious „ „ 

' ^ ' ^ Greene, Pro- 

freedom and all were to enjoy the rights of Englishmen, vincial Amer- 
/ TheTfustees of the colony sought to prevent the growth of i<^^^ 249-269. 
large plantations by forbidding negro slavery and restricting 
the amount of land held by one person. They expected 
'to make great fortunes by producing raw silk and wines. 
Almost without exception, their plans came to naught. 
The settlers proved to be inefficient, save for a few bands 
that were not sent over by the trustees. Slaves were hired 
from the people of Carolina and later regular slavery was 
introduced, and the agricultural schemes of the founders 
entailed such losses that they were abandoned. The colony 
prospered after a fashion, but was so much exposed to Span- 
ish attacks and so greatly handicapped by its start that it 
did not develop at all rapidly. 

claimed that while these Indians might be subjects of England, the terri- 
tory of the Iroquois and of their tributary tribes was still free. England, 
however, claimed territorial as well as personal dominion. 



92 



American History 



[1700 



The colonies 
under the first 
Hanoverians. 



Victories of the 
assemblies 
over the gov- 
ernors. 



Thwaites, 
The Colotiies, 
^§ 123-126. 

Greene, Pro- 
vincial Amer- 
ica, 194-200, 



87. The English Colonists and their Governors. — Mean- 
while the older English colonies were growing more rapidly 
than at any previous time. Large numbers of immigrants, 
most of them of other nationalities than English, flocked 
to America. These new settlers, with the more adventurous 
of the native-born inhabitants, pressed into the interior. 
Commerce and industry were expanding with considerable 
rapidity, notwithstanding the laws which were made by 
the English government to control these occupations, for 
these laws were not enforced.^ Under the first two Han- 
overians the colonial governments were allowed by the 
authorities in England to do much as they pleased, and they 
pleased to run their own affairs. The principal obstacle 
in the way of their complete management of American affairs 
they found in the governors who were sent over to look 
after the interests of the crown, in the royal colonies, or of 
the proprietors, in the proprietary colonies. These gov- 
ernors were intrusted with powers so important that they 
often controlled the situation theoretically. But custom 
frequently prevented them from exercising these powers 
fully. There were often important men or interests to be 
consulted and a new governor was obliged to use his powers 
with caution. If, as was often the case, he was a pleasure- 
loving court favorite, he followed the line of least resistance, 
and yielded to the assembly (the lower house of the legis- 
lature, which was always elected by the people) most of its 
demands as the price of peace. By using this method, 
which was sneeringly called a process of ''bargain and sale," 
the assemblies in most of the colonies paid the governors' 
salaries and allowed them to perform their duties unham- 
pered only when the governors in turn kept their hands 
off the business of the assemblies. These contests between 
the governors and the assemblies were the most marked 
characteristic of English colonial history during the first 
half of the eighteenth century. The almost unvarying 
success of the assemblies left the colonies to a large extent 



See § 121. 



I750] 



French and English after i68g 



93 



self-governing and did much to give the colonial leaders 
confidence in their ability to protect themselves from inter- 
ference on the part of the home government or its repre- 
sentatives. 

88. Government of the French Colonies. — The French 
colonies were governed very differently. No representative 
of the people had a share in making the laws. The king 
appointed directly all of the chief colonial officials. There 
was a governor who had control of military affairs, who 
executed the laws, who, in fact, had more influence than 
any one else in making the laws. These governors held 
office as a rule for a longer time than the governors in the 
English colonies and exercised powers that were immeas- 
urably greater. But every governor had at his elbow an 
official called an '^intendant,^^ who was appointed by the 
king to spy upon the governor and report to the king what 
the governor did. Naturally he acted as a check on that 
official, but this dual system resulted in constant misunder- 
standings and bickerings. The real legislative head of the 
French colonies was a superior council appointed by the king. 
This council made laws, established courts, and formed a 
final court of appeal. 

Such an absolute government of council, governor, and 
intendant made it possible for the French colonies to con- 
centrate all their strength in carrying on war and seizing 
territory, much to their advantage. But the French rule 
was not fitted to develop strong, populous, self-reliant 
colonies. The government established a paternalism which 
sought to aid the colonies, but which succeeded only in 
weakening them. Commercial monopolies interfered with 
individual enterprise, immigration was restricted by the 
ardor of the Jesuit priests who kept out Protestant settlers, 
while feudal estates and privileges placed barriers in the 
way of social progress. For the protection of the fine terri- 
torial domain that she had secured, France at the middle 
of the eighteenth century could muster only eighty thousand 
inhabitants, while the rival British possessions boasted 



Organization 
of the govern. 



Parkman, 
Struggle for a 
Continent, 
169-173. 

Thwaites, 
France in 
America, 
128-135. 



Results of the 
French colo- 
nial policy. 

Parkman, 
Struggle for a 
Continent, 
314-318. 



Thwaites, 
France in 
America, 
132-142. 



^' 



94 American History [^744 

nearly a million and a quarter. Little wonder that the court 
of that pleasure-loving monarch, Louis XV, with its short- 
sighted, blundering policy in Europe, Asia, and America, 
was unable to retain its hold in America ! 
War of the 89. Preparation for the Final Conflict. — Great Britain 

Austrian Sue- ^^^ Spain had been at war for several years before the war 
(1744-1748). of the Austrian succession, which involved nearly every 
country of Europe, spread to America in 1744. Only one 
Fiske New important military event distinguished this third inter- 
France and colonial war. The great fortress of Louisburg on Cape 
New England, gj-eton Island, which commanded the entrance to the St. 
Lawrence and threatened the English colonies of Newfound- 
land and Acadia, was reduced by William Pepperell and a 
force of New England farmers and fishermen almost unaided 
by the British navy. Much to the indignation of the colo- 
nists, this advantage was lost by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle 
(1748), since Louisburg was returned to the French in ex- 
change for Dutch fortresses that they gave up. 
rench forts in As this treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was considered by all 
e West. parties a mere truce — a temporary lull in the storm — each 

side was busy making preparations for the real struggle to 
Parkman, foUow. France had already made considerable progress 

Coruinenix 6- ^^ ^^ occupatiou of the Wcst, having gained control of the 
264, 297-300. principal avenues of communication by establishing forts 
at strategic points like Frontenac, Detroit, Sault Ste. Marie, 
Parkman '^^^ Chartres before 1720. When the English sought to 

Half Cetttury, secure a large share of the fur trade by building a trading 
1.63-77- post at Oswego in 1722, the French tried by establishing 

forts at Crown Point and Niagara to gain control of Lake 
Champlain and to recover the trade they had lost on Lake 
Ontario. At the close of the third intercolonial war, the 
French governor of Canada strengthened the chain of forts 
from Montreal to New Orleans, and in order to gain the 
goodwill of the western Indians by impressing them with 
the power of the French, he buried leaden plates inscribed 
with the arms of France and the claim that France was the 
sole owner of the country west of the mountains. 



1754] Expulsion of the French 95 



Expulsion of the French (i 754-1 763) 



90. The Struggle for the Upper Ohio Valley. — In 1753 French forts 
the French extended their system of forts to the valley of ^^^ Virginia 
the Allegheny River, with the intention of keeping the 

English from the upper Ohio region. The English had 
already secured from the Iroquois a claim to this territory, p^y^ries 11 
but the first real interest in the country beyond the moun- Nos. 123-124. 
tains was developed in Virginia, which claimed that section 
as a part of the land grant in her charter of 1609 (§ 35). 
Grants of the land had been made to companies by Vir- 
ginia before 1750, and, when the French began building forts 
south of Lake Erie, Deputy Governor Dinwiddle of Vir- 
ginia sent George Washington, then a stalwart youth of 
twenty-one, to warn the French that they were trespassers. 

Acting on Washington's report, a force was dispatched Collision be- 
the next spring (1754), to occupy the rocky promontory tween the 
at the junction of the Allegheny and the Monongahela Washington. 
Rivers, which was the real '^ gateway of the West." Before 
their arrival the French descended the Allegheny in force, Parkman, 
drove away the traders who had a post at that point, and struggle /or a 
built a strong fort that they called Duquesne. A scouting ('"^^^"^^ > 
party from this fort was sent to watch the movements of 
the vanguard of the Virginia detachment under Washington ^iske, New 
and was attacked by him, all of the Frenchmen being killed ^^^ England, 
or captured. Of course this was an act of war, but both 269-276. 
France and England desired to maintain peace as long as 
possible, and it was two years before war was declared, praTtce in 
although waged during the interval in America and India. AtnerUa, 
After the first skirmish Washington was obliged to fall '^^-^^^ 
back, but later was himself captured with all of his troops 
by a French force much larger than his own. 

91. The Situation in America and in Europe. — That an CompHcations 
actual battle between armed forces of the two countries of European 
did not lead at once to a break in their friendly relations 

was due to the state of European politics. The treaty of 
Aix-la-Chapelle had seated Maria Theresa firmly upon the 



96 



American History 



[1754 



Hassall, Bal- 
ance of Power, 
224-240. 



Comparison of 
the combatants 
in America. 



Parkman, 
Struggle for a 
Contment, 
314-328. 



Avenues of 
English attack. 



throne of Austria, after nearly a decade of fighting. So 
anxious was the whole of Europe for a respite, that not even 
the struggles between France and England in India, which 
had Continued after war ceased in Europe, proved sufficient 
cause for an open renewal of hostilities. But when affairs 
reached a crisis in India; when Austria and France united 
for the dismemberment of Prussia, with whom England was 
in sympathy ; when French and English vessels were scour- 
ing the seas for the merchantmen of the other; and when 
a half-dozen armies were actually fighting for America, 
the facts could no longer be ignored, and war was declared 
(1756). This "Seven Years' War," as it is called in Euro- 
pean history, exerted a greater influence on the destinies 
of both France and England than almost any other war in 
their history. The phase of it in which we are most inter- 
ested, the contest in America, best known as the "Old French 
and Indian War," decided the future of half a continent. 

For the first time both England and France were almost 
as much interested in the war outside of Europe as in the 
war on the continent, and each gave to her colonies all 
the forces that she could spare. In America the resources 
of the contestants were far from equal. The popula- 
tion of the English colonies was nearly fifteen times as large 
as that of the French provinces. On the other hand there 
were two highly centralized French provinces, in which a 
semi-military government could bring every able-bodied 
man into the field at short notice, and fourteen disconnected 
British colonies more or less jealous of one another, and 
practically without experience in acting together. Nothing 
but a great common danger could make the English colonies 
forget their differences, and the distrust shown by the as- 
semblies toward their governors made them unwilling to 
vote men and supplies for an army which might be directed 
by the governors. 

As the strength of the French was greatly disproportionate 
to the territory that they held, it was natural for them to 
await the attack of the English. The English in the mean- 



1754] 



Expulsion of the FrencJi 



97 



time prepared for invasion along four principal avenues. 
First, they followed the seacoast and the St. Lawrence, 
using Boston and Halifax as the bases of operations. Then 
came the Champlain route, and the one through the Mo- 
hawk valley and Lake Ontario. Last of all was that lead- 
ing straight to the ground especially in dispute by way of 
Fort Duquesne. 




SCENE OP THE 
LAST FRENCH WAR 

BORMAY, n 



bany Congress 
(1754). 



Hart, Contem." 
poraries. 
No. 125. 



II. 



92. The First Period of the War (i 754-1 757). — In order The Iroquois 
to secure the cooperation of the Indians west from Lake ^"^ ^^^ ^'- 
Champlain, the French had made repeated efforts to gain 
the friendship of the various tribes. So great was their 
success that even the Six Nations,^ which had remained 
neutral during the third intercolonial war, were brought 
under French influence. To counteract this impending 
danger, a congress was called to meet at Albany, New York 
(1754), for the purpose of renewing treaties with the Iro- 
quois. The Six Nations were persuaded easily not to cast 
in their lot with the French in the conflict that had 
begun already, but the congress proceeded to adopt a re- 
markable plan of military union for the colonies, which had 

1 The Tuscaroras had joined the Five Nations in 1715. 
H 



Thwaites, 
France in 
America, 
168-172. 



98 



Americari History 



[1754 



Larned (ed.), 
Ready Re/., 

V, 317S-3178. 



French 

victories 

(1755-1757). 

Hart, Contein- 
poraries, II, 
Nos. 126-127. 



Parkman, 

Struggle for 
a Continent, 
343-355. 



Campaigns 
of 1758. 



been proposed by Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania. 
It contemplated a president general appointed by the 
English king, who was to be commander in chief of the 
colonial army, and an assembly which was to have charge 
of all financial matters. This plan was disapproved in 
England as too democratic, and in the colonies because it 
centered too much power in the hands of a royal represent- 
ative. ' 

The first real campaign of the war was that of Braddock, 
who attempted with a force of provincials and regulars to 
capture Fort Duquesne (1755). His overwhelming defeat 
was all the more humiliating because of the numerical in- 
feriority of the French and Indians. The same year oc- 
curred the expulsion of the Acadians, a cruel act, justified 
on the ground of political and military necessity. While 
the English commanders remained inactive the next two 
years or wasted their time in vain demonstrations against 
the great fortress of Louisburg, the French general, Mont- 
calm, gained absolute control of Lakes Ontario and Cham- 
plain. The first period of the war had revealed the utter 
incapacity of most of the English commanders, while an 
almost uninterrupted series of French victories had extended 
still further the limits of the vast territory claimed by 
France. 

93 . The Second Period of the War ( 1 758-1 760) . — When 
William Pitt became prime minister of England (1757) 
the tide turned. He immediately formed plans for the active 
prosecution of the war by sending to America a still larger 
number of troops, by arousing the colonists to active co- 
operation with the regular army, and by appointing compe- 
tent commanders. An expedition was fitted out to follow 
each route. Louisburg, Frontenac, and Fort Duquesne 
fell into the hands of the English, the first after a siege that 
was severe though short. The French line would have 
been cut up even more had it not been for the remoteness 
of Niagara and the presence of a skillful leader. Marquis 
de Montcalm, atTiconderoga. With his departure to defend 



^7^3] 



Expulsion of the French 



99 



Quebec the next season (1759), Lake Champlain too became 
English. 

The great expedition of the year, and in fact of the war, Capture of 
was that against the city of Quebec. Occupying command- Q^e'^^'^ (1759). 
ing heights that were directly approachable from one side 
only, with mighty fortifications against which artillery 

thundered in vain, de- 

fended by a large army 
under the command of 
the ablest French gen- 
eral, Quebec seemed 
impregnable. For the 
capture of the city a 
fleet and an army were 
dispatched early in 
1759 under James 
Wolfe, whose diseased 
frame housed an in- 
domitable spirit. After 
months of fruitless 
siege Wolfe was able 
to lead one half of his 
army by night to the 
plains of Abraham on 
the unprotected side 

of the city. Montcalm gave battle, in which both command- 
ers were killed, and a few days later the city surrendered. 
This glorious victory left to the French only Montreal, which 
was captured the next year, and the territory in the West. 
It really settled the fate of the French empire on the conti- 
nent of North America. John Fiske believed that ''the 
triumph of Wolfe marks the greatest turning point as yet 
discernible in modern history." 

94. The Peace of Paris (1763). — For nearly three 
years after war ceased in America, the two countries con- 
tinued the great conflict elsewhere. During this interval 
Spain formed an alliance with France and assisted her in 




William Pitt 



Fiske, New 
France and 
JSIew Eftglandt 
349-359- 



The situation 
in 1762. 



lOO 



Amei'ican History 



[1689 



Provisions 
of the Treaty 
of Paris (1763). 

MacDonald, 
Charters, 
No. 54. 

Thwaites, 
France in 
America, 

Territory 
west of the 
Alleghany 
mountains. 

MacDonald, 
Charters, 
No. 55. 



the contest. But England continued to gain victories. 
She became mistress of the important island of Guadaloupe, 
as well as most of the other French possessions in the West 
Indies. Havana and part of Florida had fallen into her 
hands. As she had been the acknowledged ruler of India 
after the battle of Plassey (1757), she was not to be satis- 
fied with the territory for which she had fought, not even 
when Canada was included. The war had proved a colo- 
nial death struggle, from which France emerged with 
scarcely a trace of the magnificent possessions she had 
claimed at the beginning. 

In the Treaty of Paris (1763) all of the claims of France 
to the territory east of the Mississippi, except the little island 
on which New Orleans stands, were transferred to England.^ 
Only two little islets south of Newfoundland were kept for 
fishing stations, and they were never to be fortified. Eng- 
land's territory was rounded out by the exchange of Havana 
for the Spanish Floridas. Spain had already been com- 
pensated for her losses when France gave her the isle of 
Orleans and all Louisiana west of the Mississippi River. 

Many of the Indian tribes of the West protested against the 
transfer of their territory to English rule and united under 
Pontiac in one of the greatest Indian uprisings in history. 
Attacks were made on all the western forts and settlements 
from the Virginia frontier to the Great Lakes. As the colo- 
nial assemblies neglected or refused to furnish troops, 
regulars were sent to relieve the besieged garrisons, but the 
insurrection was not broken completely until 1765. Mean- 
while^ in order to appease the western Indians, George III 
issued a proclamation (1763) reserving the lands beyond 
the Alleghanies for the Indians and prohibiting the colo- 
nies from making grants of lands or settlements in that 
region. 



^ France was allowed to retain either Guadaloupe or Canada. While 
Canada was poor and had been a source of continual expense, Guadaloupe 
was rich and had given substantial aid to the French treasury. So the 
chance of future dominion was sacrificed to present gain. 



1763] Rivalry of French and English loi 

95. Summary. — The French were not good colonizers Growth of 
and were hampered by the paternal attitude of their home ^'^^"chand 
government. Three colonies were founded in North America : colonies. 
Acadia south of the St. Lawrence, New France or Canada 
in the St. Lawrence basin, and Louisiana in the lower Mis- 
sissippi basin. French explorers, traders, and priests 
penetrated the interior, but France planted no colonies 
inland. She maintained a hold on the interior, however, 
by connecting Canada with Louisiana by a chain of forts 
at strategic points. Her great rival meanwhile was neg- 
lecting the eleven colonies which had been planted on the 
Atlantic coast during the seventeenth century. But the 
colonies prospered, large numbers of immigrants being 
received from Ireland, Scotland, France, and Germany 
as well as England. Their gain during the three quarters 
of a century following the revolution of 1688 was not only 
in population, commerce, and wealth, but in culture, self- 
reliance, and a greater desire for self-government. 

•With the expulsion of James II from England in 1689 intercolonial 

began the second ''hundred years' war" between France ^^^^ (1689- 

1763). 
and Great Britain. The first four conflicts in this series, 

lasting until 1763, involved the colonies of these nations in 
America, and w^re accompanied by all the horrors of border 
Indian warfare. The first substantial gain was secured in 
the Treaty of Utrecht (17 13) by which England gained 
control of all Newfoundland, the territory drained into 
Hudson Bay, and Acadia with its ancient Hmits. The 
last war, begun in 1754, was a contest at the beginning for 
the control of the upper Ohio valley, but, when Pitt became 
prime minister in England, it became a struggle for supremacy 
in America which ended in the capture of Louisburg, Que- 
bec, and all other important French strongholds. At the 
close of the war France transferred her territory west of 
the Mississippi to her ally, Spain, and surrendered to the 
English Canada and the eastern Mississippi basin. Eng- 
land rounded out her possessions by acquiring from Spain 
both Floridas. 



102 American History [1689 



TOPICS 

1. Champlain: Fiske, "New England and New France," 
pp. 39-42, 58-71, 80-93; Parkman, "Struggle for a Continent," 
pp. 83-124; Winsor (ed.), "America," V, pp. 103-130. 

2. Capture of Quebec (1759) : Thwaites, " France in America," 
pp. 239-254; Sloane, "French War and Revolution," pp. 78-98; 
Parkman, "Struggle for a Continent," pp. 382-446. 

STUDIES 

1. France under Henry IV. (Wakeman, "Ascendency of France," 
pp. 14-38.) 

2. French search for a western passage. (Parkman, "Struggle 
for a Continent," pp. 107-113.) 

3. Iroquois and the French. 

4. Character of La Salle. (Parkman, "Struggle for a Continent," 
pp. 220-222.) 

5. Early Indian attacks during the second intercolonial war. 
(Drake, " Border Wars of New England," 153-186.) 

6. Acadia after 1713. (Parkman, "Montcalm and Wolfe," I, 90- 
127.) 

7. How the people controlled their governors. (Fisher, "True 
American Revolution," pp. 21-32.) 

8. England and France in the eighteenth century, (Parkman, 
"Struggle for a Continent," pp. 301-313.) 

9. Early colonial plans of union. (" American History Leaflets," 
No. 14.) 

10. The contest over India. (Woodward, "Expansion of the 
British Empire," pp. 196-205.) 

11. Montcalm. (Parkman, "Montcalm and Wolfe," I, pp. 356- 

380.) 

QUESTIONS 

1. Show how political changes in France influenced the course of 
events in the French colonies. Was the colonial policy of France 
wise? (Consider political, commercial, and religious regulations.) 

2. Make an outline on the French in America, giving (a) method 
used to gain possession of the country, (&) three classes that extended 
French sway, (c) extent of French possessions (1650, 1710, 1755), 
{d) causes of French success, (e) causes of French failure. 

3. Make a table showing the chief events during the three periods, 
1600-1660, 1660-1700, 1700-1763, under the following heads: Eng- 
land, New England, middle colonies, southern colonies, the French 
and English, events of continental Europe. (Keep events of the same 
date on same horizontal line.) 



1763] Rivalry of French and English 103 

4. Compare the land claims of the two countries to the Ohio 
valley (1754). What had each done to explore or occupy that region 
before that date. 

5. To what extent did the colonial wars create a spirit of unity 
among the colonies? Name several reasons why Franklin's plan of 
unity met with disapproval. 

6. Was the expulsion of the Acadians necessary? Give reasons 
for your answer. Could it have been accomplished in a different way ? 

7. Why might Fiske have believed that " the triumph of Wolfe 
marks the greatest turning point as yet discernible in modern his- 
tory"? 



CHAPTER VI 



Population of 
the sections. 



Race elements 
of the 
population. 



Thwaites, 
Colonies, 
97, 180-181, 
220-222. 



Greene, 

Provincial 

America, 

228-236. 

Lodge, 

Eng. Colonies, 

66, '22']-'2'2g, 

406-409. 



COLONIAL CONDITIONS (1750) 
Population and Society 

96. Number of the People. — At the middle of the eigh- 
teenth century the population of the thirteen colonies that 
afterward united to form the United States was probably 

less than a million and a 

quarter, distributed fairly 
evenly between the three 
sections, New England, the 
Middle colonies, and the 
South. The most populous 
of all the colonies was Vir- 
ginia, with Massachusetts 
and Pennsylvania occupy- 
ing second and third places. 
With the exception of about 
three hundred thousand ne- 
groes all of the inhabitants 
were white, but perhaps not 
more than three fourths of 
these were of English de- 
scent. The New England 
colonies were settled almost 
exclusively by English Puri- 
tans and Virginia had few 




Density of Population 
(1750) 



white inhabitants in the 
eastern part who were not English. A large percentage 
were of that sturdy yeoman stock which has been the 
backbone of the English race for several centuries. A 
few came from the higher social ranks but some were the 
dregs of English society. Among the non-English peoples, 

104 



175°] Population and Society 105 

the Scotch-Irish predominated, large numbers of that in- 
tense and inteUigent race having emigrated from the north 
of Ireland during the first half of the eighteenth century. 
Most of these Scotch-Irish settled in the interior, along the 
foothills of Pennsylvania and the Carolinas particularly. 
Aside from the English Puritans, this race has furnished the 
largest number and most influential of our public men. 
Many Huguenot families emigrated to America after the 
revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. ^ larger pro- 
portion of these desirable citizens settled in South Caro- 
lina than in any other colony. In the middle colonies there 
was a larger number of foreigners than elsewhere, for not 
only were the Scotch and French numerous in that section, 
but there were also the original Dutch and Swedish settlers, 
besides a great number of German settlers who are known 
best as ''Pennsylvania Dutch." Probably one quarter of 
all the colonists were of nationalities other than English. 

97. Classes of Society. — In all the colonies there was social classes. 
a marked distinction between the social classes, least pro- 
nounced in Pennsylvania and New England, most notice- Thwaites 
able in South Carolina. In the North, the aristocracy was Colonies, 
one based to a great extent on family, but men often attained ^^ 42, 93- 
social standing by exceptional learning or unusual business 
success. In the South, family and the possession of landed Lodge, 
estates counted for most. The middle class of independent _„ 327-329 
farmers or merchants was largest in New England, for in 445-448. 
that section there were few dependents and practically no 
slaves. In Pennsylvania also the middle class was very 
numerous, although there was the greatest difference be- 
tween the prosperous farmer of the eastern valleys and the 
rough ignorant frontiersman of the interior. In most of 
the other colonies the middle class was comparatively small. 

As a rule these people of the colonies were rough, kind- character 
hearted, industrious, and frugal. Their manners were often o^ ^^^ people, 
crude, and their ideas on social and political subjects un- 
developed, but their courage was never open to question, Wilson, 
and their love of liberty unquenchable. Although they ^'''^'^"Ston, 



io6 



American History 



[1750 



Two kinds 
of indented 
servants. 



Andrews, 

Col. Self- Gov't, 



Lodge, 

Evg. Colonies, 

69-71, 125-126. 



Eggleston, 
in Century, 
XXVIII 

(1884), 853- 
856. 



Treatment 
of indented 
servants. 



Eggleston, 
in Century, 
XXVIII 
(1884), 856- 



Blacks in the 
North and the 
South. 



drank overmuch and often engaged in pastimes that do 
not appeal to a more highly organized people, they rarely 
had distorted views of right and wrong. 

98. Indented Servants. — There existed in all of the 
English provinces a class of white servants who were bound 
to their masters for a term of years. Of these there were 
two distinct kinds — one consisting of convicts who were 
sent to America to serve their sentences, and the other 
'^indented" servants who bound themselves to work for 
a period of five years, usually, in payment of their passage 
to the new world. Many of those belonging to the second 
class were worthy, hardworking, but unfortunate individuals 
who secured farms of their own after the expiration of their 
terms of service, and became valuable citizens. The ma- 
jority of the ''indented" servants, however, were indolent 
and shiftless, so that an immense number of ne'er-do-wells 
were imposed on the colonies, especially from New York 
to North Carolina. Still more burdensome were the re- 
leased convicts whose lawlessness and viciousness were a 
menace to the peace and order of the colonies. 

During the terms of service these servants were con- 
trolled absolutely and often treated harshly by their masters. 
Attempts to escape were punished severely, and added to 
the time of servitude. In some colonies a second attempt 
was punishable by branding on the cheek and a third at- 
tempt by death if desired by the master. Frequently the 
condition of these servants was much better than might be 
expected, comparing favorably with that of farm hands in 
England. Sometimes convicts who were political exiles 
occupied clerical or business positions of importance. 

99. Slavery. — African slavery existed in New Nether- 
land and in the South almost from the beginning. It never 
attained prominence in New England, for the occupations 
of the people and later a growing sentiment against human 
bondage prevented its development. The few slaves, as 
in most of the other northern colonies, were house servants 
who were treated usually with a great deal of consideration. 



1750] Population and Society 107 

From Pennsylvania south, the blacks were, of course, very Coman, hidus^ 

much more numerous, in Virginia nearly equaling the whites ^^^^^ ^^^^•' 

in number, and in South Carolina forming about three "^^ 

fifths of the population. All of the menial domestic duties 

were performed by slaves, but in Maryland and Virginia 

most of the blacks were employed as field hands on the large 

tobacco plantations, while in the extreme South the work 

in the rice fields was done by bands of fierce, ignorant slaves, 

under cruel overseers. 

During the seventeenth century white servants were pre- Laws regard- 
f erred to African slaves, in almost all of the colonies, and the ^"^ slaves. 
laws regarding slaves were comparatively lenient. Later, 
with the development of slavery and attempted insurrections, Eggleston, m 
laws of great severity were passed. Slaves were not allowed xxviii 
to leave their plantations without permission and might be (1884), 86i- 
put to death if they attempted to escape or injured their ^^5- 
masters. Meetings of slaves were forbidden and their 
quarters were searched frequently for hidden arms. Inter- Lodge, 
marriage between whites and blacks was forbidden under ^ "^ ^ °^^^^' 
very heavy penalties. Many legal obstacles were placed 
in the way of emancipation. These laws were not enforced 
in Maryland and Virginia, for most of the blacks in those 
colonies were native born, living their entire lives on a single 
plantation, and consequently known personally to the mas- 
ter and mistress. As a rule they were well fed, well clothed, 
and treated humanely. 

In the South, on the contrary, there was little difference Enforcement 
between the letter and the spirit of the law. Many of the of slave laws in 
blacks were barbarous Africans, trapped by slave dealers go^th. 
and brought to America by Spanish or New England slave 
traders. On the rice or indigo plantations little attempt Lodge, 
was made to civilize them. Slaves were cheap and their Eng. Colonies, 
labor so profitable that it was more economical to work them ^ ^"^ ^' 
hard and buy new slaves when they were worn out than to 
spare them. Small wonder was it that the badly treated 
blacks hated their masters and overseers and were kept 
in subjection by an iron rule. 



io8 



American History 



[1750 



The cities. 

Eggleston, in 
Centuty, XXIX 
(1885), 873- 
881. 



100. Colonial Life. — Although nearly all of the people 
lived within one hundred miles of the seacoast, there were 
only four places that deserved to be called cities — Boston, 
Philadelphia, New York, and Charleston — and compara- 
tively few large towns. Boston and New York were the 
centers of a thriving commerce. In Charleston lived most 
of the planters of South Carolina who found life unendur- 




A Colonial Kitchen 



Lodge, 

Eng. Colonies, 
103, 237-240, 
258-262, 333- 
337. 451-461. 



able on the hot, swampy plantations. These cities and some 
of the towns were compact little burgs, not overclean, with 
narrow winding streets — except Philadelphia — numerous 
small shops, and well-built houses usually of brick and stone. 
Few of the inhabitants were wealthy, but the majority were 
in fair circumstances. Few of the streets were patrolled 
or lighted at night, there was no uniform water supply or 
proper sanitation. Most of the houses had several bal- 
conies, and were backed if not surrounded by attractive 
gardens. Some of them were comfortably furnished with 
chairs, tables, and draperies purchased abroad. 



I750] 



Population and Society 



109 



In the country the log cabins which had been the rule 
everywhere in the early days were to be found only on the 
frontier or in the poorer districts. With the advent of the 
sawmill, they had been replaced by frame houses of several 
rooms which were rude structures tied together with wooden 
pins, for iron was scarce. The doors were hung on leather 
hinges and fortunate indeed was the farmer who substituted 
glass brought from England for the oiled paper which was 



Life in the 
country. 

Earle, Home 
Life in Colo- 
nial Days, 

4-16, 12.-1'], 

52-75- 




A Colonial Hal 



almost universal outside of the towns. In most of the farm- 
houses the spacious kitchen was the most attractive room. 
At one end was a great fireplace with large pots and kettles 
suspended from a horizontal rod — for stoves were prac- 
tically unknown in 1750. There was a large dining-table 
and a few rude chairs or benches. Around the glowing 
fire the family gathered at night, and the kitchen was fre- 
quently the scene of jolly neighborhood gatherings. The 
loneliness of country life was relieved by occasional house 
raisings and by frequent quilting bees and corn huskings. 
In a few districts in rural New England, along the Hud- 
son, and from the Delaware to the Carolina border, the 
country homes of the landed gentry were very fine examples 



Lodge, Eng. 
Colonies, 76-82, 
248-252, 329- 
331, 448-451. 



Country 
homes of the 
gentry. 



no 



American History 



[1750 



Difficulties in 
preparing the 
land. 



Winsor (ed.), 
Atnerica, IV, 
Intro. 



Agricultural 
products and 
exports. 

Co man, Indus- 
trial Hist., 
47-60. 

Eggleston, 
in Century, 
XXVII (1884), 
435-442. 



of the beautiful type of architecture which we call colonial. 
These were seen at their best on the broad tobacco planta- 
tions of Virginia. There the spacious "halls," ever open 
to visitors, with the numerous barns and other farm build- 
ings and rows of slave cabins, formed miniature colonies 
in themselves. 

Occupations 

loi. Agriculture. — Most of the colonists depended on 
agriculture for their support. At first each colony sought 
to raise simply the necessaries of life — a supply of 
food which would keep them from starving. Conditions 
were not especially favorable for agriculture at the begin- 
ning, because of the dense forests. The task of clearing 
the land was so arduous that the early settlers contented 
themselves with the Indian method of girdling the trees 
so that they died. Corn and pumpkins were then planted 
among the lifeless trunks. In New England, further diffi- 
culties were added by the stones with which the prehistoric 
glaciers had sown the land. The fight with the wilder- 
ness was long and intense. 

In the northern colonies all of the farms were small, 
as the narrow valleys precluded cultivation on a large scale. 
Great care was necessary to insure even moderate crops, 
except in the valley of the Connecticut. There were very 
few communities in New England that raised articles for 
export. In the middle section a surplus supply of v/heat 
was grown, so that wheat and flour were shipped to the West 
Indies and Europe. In Maryland and Virginia agriculture 
absorbed the entire attention of the people. This was due 
to the profitableness of the tobacco industry, for at different 
times the planters neglected food supplies in their mad 
desire to gain wealth by raising tobacco to be sold abroad. 
It was necessary to make laws compelling every planter to 
devote a certain area to corn. Even with this restraint, 
the over-production of tobacco caused a great decline in 
the price. After the passage of the Navigation Act, which 



175°] Occupations . m ' 

forbade the sending of tobacco to other countries than Eng- 
land, the price became still lower, but the raising of tobacco 
remained the chief source of wealth in those colonies until 
the revolution. South Carolina made a specialty of rice 
during the eighteenth century, and indigo was produced in 
large quantities after 1745. Some cotton also was grown 
in the low lands along the coast. 

102. Commerce and Shipping. — The colonies were de- Restrictions on 
pendent on England for many manufactured articles. At coio"'^^ ti'^^e 
the beginning it was impossible to produce these things 
in America, and after 1660 the home government aimed to Coman, indus- 
prohibit manufacturing in the colonies, at the same time _g 
compelling the colonists to purchase everything they needed 
from England rather than from her continental rivals. 
Since the commercial laws of England were not enforced 
strictly, the colonies enjoyed a large though legally forbidden 
trade with the West Indian possessions of France and Spain 
and with Holland, France, and other European countries.^ 

From the northern ports a comparatively large trade was General 
carried on, especially with England and the British West exports and 
Indies. It is estimated that salted cod and mackerel ""P^'^ 
worth ;£2 50,000 were exported annually from New England. 
Large quantities of lumber and dried fish were sent to the .^-^i^^]^" "^ 
West Indies every year, where they were exchanged for 75-77. 
molasses, from which was distilled rum that was in turn 
exported. Nevertheless, the imports of New England 
were four times as great as its exports. In Virginia and 
North Carolina, owing to the lack of towns and harbors, 
the skippers of the small sailing vessels ascended the numer- 
ous rivers of those colonies, exchanging their fine cloths 
and other articles at each plantation for the products of 
the country. 

A large part of the shipping was in the hands of New Shipbuilding 
Englanders, since the colonists were allowed by the navi- ^"'^ shipping, 
gation acts to trade on the same terms as native-born Eng- 
lishmen. Shipbuilding had become an important indus- 

^ On the laws of trade, see §§ 119-121. 



112 



American History 



[1750 



Wright, Indus- 
trial Evolution 
^/ a 5., 28-42. 



Piracy. 

Hart, Cofi tem- 
poraries, 
II, No. 85. 



Colonial 
manufactures. 



Com an, hidus- 
trial Hist., 
62, 72. 



try in the northern colonies, as lumber was cheap, and the 
vessels built in the New England shipyards were superior 
to those constructed in Europe. The fisheries formed a 
training school of the best kind for a race of hardy, daring 
sailors who gained a reputation in later naval wars. Prob- 
ably one half of the population in New England depended 
on the sea for a living. 

Commerce in colonial times was attended by dangers 
that no longer exist. There was always risk of capture 
by privateers of unfriendly nations. Pirates were numerous, 
successful, and often unpunished. At one time North 
Carolina harbored a great many, at another New York 
and Newport gained an unpleasant reputation for giving 
them aid. The government sought to suppress piracy, 
sending out privateers to capture them. Among those 
commissioned to destroy pirate ships was the notorious 
Captain Kidd, who turned pirate as soon as he was out of 
sight of land, but afterward suffered death for his crimes. 
In spite of harsh measures, regular commerce was not free 
from perils of this nature until comparatively late in the 
eighteenth century, and many passengers and crews were 
obliged to "walk the plank." 

103. Industry and Labor. — The colonies were in no 
true sense manufacturing communities, A new country 
is not well adapted for those industries which require a 
large supply of raw materials and an abundance of labor. 
Because of the lack of laborers and the higher wages paid in 
America, it was cheaper to ship the raw materials to Eng- 
land and purchase the finished products from the mother 
country. Yet there was a large amount of manufacturing 
done in the colonies on a small scale. Practically all of 
the household furniture was made at home. Almost 
every family had its spinning wheel and hand loom. Few 
of the colonists used anything but the coarse "linen" made 
from the hemp and flax that they prepared, or dressed in 
anything but homespun woolen clothes, but the wealthier 
farmers or merchants imported their broadcloth and their 



175°] Occupations 113 

hats. The building of ships was undoubtedly the fore- 
most industry of the colonies, three hundred and eighty- 
nine being constructed in a single year.^ Many of these were 
built for English owners, or were sold abroad later with 
their cargoes. 

Although the hours of labor were very long, and the wages Condition of 
paid, two or three shillings a day for skilled labor, seem '^^o""- 
ridiculously small, the laborer in the colonies was undoubt- 
edly better paid and better treated than in any part of Wright. Indus- 

Europe. The agricultural laborer was free to self his labor ^^''^^ ^-^'^^''^^^«. 

^ _ 104- I 14. 

to the one who would pay the most for it, instead of being 

tied to a certain farm, as in most countries across the At- 
lantic. The man w^ho wished to learn a trade served a 
shorter apprenticeship, and was freer in every way than a 
fellow workman in England. There were numerous at- 
tempts during colonial times to regulate the price of wages 
or of commodities, in the interest usually of those wealthier 
classes which controlled the government, but these proved 
ineffective. 

104. Colonial Currency. — Most of the colonial business Commodities 
consisted simply in the exchange of one commodity for an- ^^ money, 
other. Corn, sheep, and cattle were the ordinary media 
of exchange in several colonies, the value of a sheep in shil- 
lings often being designated by law. This enabled debtors 
to pay their creditors in the poorest animals they owned. 
In Virginia and Maryland, tobacco w^as used as currency, 
articles being purchased and wages paid in tobacco. 

As the people bought abroad more than they were able to Colonial coins, 
sell it was impossible to secure or retain any large quantity 
of gold or silver. Most of the silver coins in circulation were Dewey, Finan- 
dollars or smaller coins bearing a Spanish stamp, which dal Hist, of 
had been obtained in trade with the West Indies. Almost " " ^^~^^' 
every colony placed a different valuation on the Spanish 
dollar. In one colony it was considered worth five Eng- 
Hsh shillings, in another six, in another eight. This natu- 
rally added confusion to the existing m_onetary difficulties. 

^ 1769, the only year for which full statistics are available. 



114 



American History 



[1750 



Paper money. 

Co man, Indus- 
trial Hist., 
83-86. 



Hart, Contein- 
poraries, 
II.Nos. 88, 8c 



Medicine, 
teaching, and 
the laws. 



Greene, Pro- 
vincial Atner- 
ica, 317-319. 



Lodge, 

Eng. Colonies, 

232, 236-237. 



The ministry. 



Massachusetts was the first colony to attempt a solution 
of the currency problem by issuing paper money, but other 
colonies were not slow to follow this apparently easy method 
of paying private and public debts.^ New York and Penn- 
sylvania were more careful than the other colonies to pro- 
vide a safe system of redeeming this paper, thus escaping 
the evils of depreciation and business depression that fol- 
lowed in the other colonies. In several colonies so-called 
"banks" were allowed to issue paper money, with results 
disastrous to all but the promoters of the scheme. A large 
part of the paper money in circulation became worth less 
than fifteen per cent of its face value. Interference with 
business was so great that at length parliament forbade 
(1751) the issue of paper money in New England and 
(1763) extended the prohibition to all of the colonies. 

105. The Professions. — Very few persons were trained 
carefully for professional work. There were in 1750 but 
four colleges, most of which had been founded with an idea 
of fitting men for the ministry, but there w^ere no theological 
seminaries or other professional schools. Consequently 
few physicians were to be found in the colonies, and of these 
the majority were men of little learning and less skill. Medi- 
cine as practiced was neither an art nor a science. Most 
of the teachers were either clergymen who gave part of their 
attention to private classes or incompetent individuals who 
had failed of success in other occupations. Although few 
men devoted their attention exclusively to the law, most 
educated men in the colonies were versed in the law and 
were prepared to argue cases if necessary. Pennsylvania 
alone furnished many able lawyers for other colonies, and 
the saying "as smart as a Philadelphia lawyer" became 
almost a proverb. 

As more care was taken in preparing clergymen for their 
work than with the other professions, the Congregational 
colonial minister was the best educated, and probably the 

^ Before 1750, all of the colonies except Virginia and Georgia had 
issued bills of credit. 



1750] 



Occupations 



115 



ablest man in his community. Looked up to for his char- Lodge, 
acter and learning, his influence enabled him to direct ^"S- Colonies, 
public opinion and settle private controversies. Many of '^^3-425- 
the men appointed to livings in the Anglican church in 
America as in England were ignorant and corrupt, although 
the pastors of most independent churches and of regular 
parishes were men of high moral character. 

Miscellaneous Conditions 

106. Colonial Churches. — In most of the colonies there Puritan 
was a church supported at public expense, the union of churches. 




425-434- 



A Colonial Church 

church and state being common. In the New England Lodge, 

colonies, except Rhode Island, the Congregational church -^j^* <^'^^^^^^-^' 

had been established by law, all other denominations being 

excluded so far as possible from erecting buildings or even 

holding services. The Sabbath was observed very rigidly. 

No one traveled except to church, cooking was avoided, and 

the day given over to religious worship. Attendance at 



ii6 



Ameficaji History 



[1750 



Anglicans 
and dissenters. 

Andrews, 

CoL Self- Gov't, 

304-311- 

Eggleston, 

in Century, 

XXVI (1883), 

107- I 16. 



Superstition 
in custom 
and law. 

Lodge, 

Eng. Colonies, 

253-254. 
434-436. 



church service was compulsory, absence being punished 
by fine or the stocks. The services were always long and 
sometimes tedious, the hourglass being turned once during 
the "long" prayer, and usually twice during the sermon. 
The straight-backed uncushioned seats did not make it 
easier for the attendants to listen to the long, dry arguments 
or fierce declamation on future punishment, especially in 
winter when the meeting houses were unheated and even 
footstoves were considered effeminate. Puritan austerity 
could scarcely devise harsher means of mortifying the flesh, 
or better tests for self-control and endurance. 

South of New England the Anglican church had been 
established by law except in Pennsylvania, but church 
attendance was irregular and very little attempt was made 
to prevent dissenters from holding services of their own, 
although Catholics had churches in Pennsylvania only. 
In South Carolina, western Virginia, and Pennsylvania, 
the Presbyterians were numerous, while Rhode Island was 
controlled by the Baptists. In Rhode Island and Pennsyl- 
vania alone was there anything like real religious liberty. 

107. Superstition. — Superstition was much more com- 
mon in the seventeenth century than it is at present. This 
was due not simply to the greater ignorance of that day, but 
particularly to the survival of beliefs in signs and in the exist- 
ence of evil spirits, witches, the evil eye, and other evidences 
of Satan's control of mortals. These beliefs were much 
less common in England than on the continent, and less 
common here than in England, although the non-English 
immigrants were very superstitious.^ This superstition not 
only influenced the habits of the people, but also affected 
their laws. 

Only once did superstitious fear lead to a wholesale pun- 
ishment of witches. This was in the terrible witchcraft 



^ There are a few isolated instances of witches being put to death in the 
colonies before 1692 and after the witchcraft episode. In England and 
on the continent hundreds of thousands of witches were condemned to 
death, five hundred being burned in a single year in the city of Geneva. 



I750] 



Miscellaneous Conditions 



117 



delusion at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. The epidemic 
started when a number of "afflicted children," under the 
morbid training of some ignorant colored servants, accused 
eccentric people in the village of having bewitched them. 
A special court was organized for the trial of these cases, 
and persons were condemned on absurd testimony by con- 
servative judges like Samuel Sewell. Excitement ran so 
high that many people accused their enemies of witchcraft, 
and no one could condemn the so-called trials without 
danger of being 
considered a 
witch. ^ After 
several women of 
unusual standing 
and virtue had 
been accused, the 
eyes of the people 
wereopened;not, 
however, until a 
number of per- 
sons had been 
put to death. 

108. Crime. — 
The death penalty 
was used much 
more commonly 
in colonial times 
than at present.^ In one colony, Pennsylvania, an attempt 
was made at the beginning to abolish it except for mur- 
der, but so great a departure from the customs of the 
times was abandoned after a few years. In Massa- 




PlLLORY 



The Salem 

witchcraft 

delusion. 

Greene, 
Provincial 
America, 
25-29. 

Fiske, 

Neis) France 
and New 
England. 



Methods of 

punishing 

offenders. 



1 A common way of deciding whether a woman was a witch was to 
cast her into the water. If she failed to sink, she was proved to be a witch. 

2 In England during the seventeenth century over one hundred crimes 
were punishable by death, the number increasing instead of diminishing 
during the eighteenth century. Frequently juries would acquit a man 
where the evidence showed him guilty, because they were unwilling to 
punish him by death for a minor offense. 



Ii8 American History [1750 

chusetts, as we noticed (§ 73), Quakers who had been 
banished, but insisted on returning, were hanged. Yet 
executions were not common in colonial times, although 
so many offenses were punishable by death. In fact, 
in all well-settled communities, crime was by no means 
general. On many frontiers, and in a few older sections, 
there was considerable lawlessness. Imprisonment was 

Man andHorse^ Mad Bull. 





A Horse drinking. Boy in danger. 

Children should be careful not to 
provoke a bull, or get over into the 
field where one is. Alas ! for that lit- 
tle boy that is running with all his 
might : see hi& hat flying behind him, 
ana the mad bull close at his heels. 

Page from an Old School Book 

used comparatively little as a punishment and the prisons 
were few in number and of a low order. In a conspicuous 
place in each town stood the whipping post, at which run- 
away slaves and criminals were lashed upon bare backs, and 
the stocks and pillory, in which offenders were locked for 
from one to four hours, the pain of their cramped position 
being augmented by the jeers of the spectators and the mud 
thrown by rowdies. Ducking stools were used occasionally 
for scolding wives even in the eighteenth century. 
Grammar ICQ. Education. — Outside of New England there was 

practically no public education, but east of the Hudson 
almost every town boasted a grammar school and practi- 



schools. 



750] 



Miscellaneous Conditions 



119 



cally every county had a Latin school which prepared stu- 
dents for college. To the Puritans, ability to read the Bible 
was a necessary part of the preparation for life. Except in 
parts of Rhode Island and on the Maine frontier no ilhterate 
persons could be found in New England at the middle of 
the eighteenth century. The middle colonies paid com- 
paratively little attention to education, although there were 




First Harvard Hall Governor's Coach First Stoughton Massachusetts Hall 

Harvard College 



a few excellent private schools in New York, Philadelphia, 
and a few other large towns. South of Mason and Dixon's 
line education was systematically neglected. The oft- 
quoted comment of Governor Berkeley, in which he thanked 
God that there were no free schools or printing presses 
in Virginia, expressed the sentiment of the ruling class. 
Tutors were employed by some of the wealthier planters, 
and a few sons of prominent families in Virginia and South 
Carolina were sent to England for a college education. 

The most famous and the most influential of the early Colonial 
colleges was that established at Cambridge in 1636, and ^° ^^^^* 
named after John Harvard; William and Mary college 



and the 
government 



Wright, hidus- 
tria I Evolution , 



120 Amertcan History [1750 

Greene, was founded in Virginia, just before the close of the seven- 

Provincial teenth century, and Yale College at New Haven in 1701. 
304-311.' About the middle of the eighteenth century renewed inter- 

est in higher education led to the establishment of three 
colleges in the middle colonies: Kings (afterward Colum- 
bia) in New York, Princeton in New Jersey, and the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia. The latter, through 
the influence of Benjamin Franklin, developed rapidly, 
gaining a reputation for its standing and for the number 
of its courses and students within a few years. 
Newspapers 1 10. Newspapers. — New England established its pri- 

macy in literary enterprise and attainments as in other lines, 
although it must be admitted that there was very little 
printing and less literature in the colonies before 1750. No 
newspaper was published in this country prior to 1704, 
63-69. when the Boston News Letter was started. At the middle 

of the century there were less than a dozen newspapers 
printed in all of the colonies, none being published daily. 
The attitude of the government toward the printers was by 
no means favorable. No books or pamphlets could be 
printed without a special license. When an attempt was 
made in Boston (1690) to start a newspaper called Public 
Occurrences, it was suppressed. 
The Zenger Real freedom of the press was not recognized until after 

case (1736). ^}^g famous Zenger case had been decided in New York in 
1736. Zenger was the publisher of the New York Weekly 
Hart, Contem- Journal. In a controversy between the governor of the 
n N^^"^^' colony, Cosby, and the president of the colonial council, 

Zenger supported the president. Van Dom, and was in con- 
sequence imprisoned and tried for libel. His lawyer, 
Andrew Hamilton of Philadelphia, argued that Zenger 
had ])ublished only facts and claimed that his client had the 
right to state the truth so long as it was not done maliciously. 
Influenced by his reasoning and eloquence, the jury found 
Zenger not guilty. This verdict had a wholesome influence 
not alone in New York, but throughout the colonies, in free- 
ing the press from the tyranny of the government. 



I750] 



Miscellaneous Cojiditions 



121 



III. Travel. — As most of the settlements were near the 
seacoast or on rivers, it was possible at first to travel from 
town to town or from plantation to plantation by water. 
Birch bark or "dugout" canoes were used on the rivers, 
sailing vessels on the ocean. As the colonies developed, 
travel by land became unavoidable. Until roads were 
constructed, Indian trails and bridle paths served the settlers, 
most of whom were obliged to journey on foot. Later the 
highways were improved, and horses were more numerous, 



Travel in an 
early day. 

Earle, 
Home Life, 
325-332. 

Hart, Contem- 
poraries, 
II, No. 80. 




CoNESTOGA Wagon 



so that comparatively few of the planters or their families 
ever traveled except by boat or on horseback. Roads were 
still few, however, and bridges almost unknown, the nu- 
merous rivers being forded at convenient points. Settlers 
in the North rode to church, usually with their wives on a 
pillion, or cushion, behind them. 

The eighteenth century saw considerable improvement in 
the colonial highways and in the methods of travel. Roads 
connected all of the towjis of importance but were few and 
poor in colonies with few villages. The use of two-wheeled 
chaises had replaced horseback riding to quite an extent in 
the North, although they were less common in Maryland, 
Virginia, and the Carolinas. Coaches were kept by most of 
the wealthy families, who put on considerable style with 



Roads, 
coaches, and 
wagons, 
eighteenth 
century. 

Eggleston, 
in Century, 
XXX (1885), 

387-389- 



122 



America7t History 



[1750 



Earle, 
Home Life, 
335-344- 



Irregular 
stage lines. 



Mail service. 



Earle, 
Home Life, 
332-335- 



Democratic 
character 
of the local 
government. 



Hart, Forma- 
tion of Union, 
§6. 



Lee (ed.), 
N. America, 
VI, 66-72. 



their liveried coachmen and outriders. The roads were primi- 
tive, however, and comparatively little used for the transpor- 
tation of merchandise. Most articles were carried on pack- 
horses, but in Pennsylvania commodious farm wagons, known 
as Conestoga wagons, were coming into extensive use. 

Before 1750 there were no regular stage coaches in the 
colonies. Stages were run between certain towns regularly 
in the summer, and at irregular intervals throughout the 
year, connecting the larger cities. A journey by stage from 
Boston to New York took a week and was an exceedingly 
uncomfortable trip. From three in the morning until nine 
at night the lumbering vehicle jolted its passengers over the 
rough roads, leaving them a few hours' fitful slumber in the 
none too comfortable beds of the wayside taverns. The 
smaller streams were forded, the larger crossed by ferry, 
sometimes in detachments. When the stage stuck in the 
mud, the passengers were obliged to alight and put their 
shoulders to the wheel. 

There was no mail service worthy of the name before 1750. 
The mails were irregular, costly, and unsatisfactory. When 
a postrider had enough letters to justify a trip, he set out, 
carrying numerous parcels on his own account.-^ The mail 
was left at some public house to be hauled over by every 
comer until claimed and paid for by the person to whom 
it was addressed. 

112. Colonial Government. —The governments of the 
American colonies were notable as being far more demo- 
cratic than any others then in existence. This was true 
especially of the local governments in the northern and 
middle colonies. In New England every town was governed 
by a town meeting composed of all voters in that town, and 
by officials chosen by popular election in those town meetings. 
In New York most of the town officials were chosen by the 
people, although much of the work of governing was done 
by county officials appointed by the governor. Pennsyl- 
vania chose her own county officials. In Virginia and the 

^ Only letters could be sent by government post. 



175°] Miscellaneous Conditions 123 

South there were no officials for districts smaller than the 
county and these officers were selected by the governor, so 
that the people had little share directly in their local govern- 
ment. 

In every colony there was an assembly chosen by the Central 
voters. This assembly, together with a '' council," made government of 
the laws subject to the approval of the governor. It also 
controlled almost exclusively the raising of money by taxa- 
tion. The council was selected by the governor in all but ^^^^ Govt, 
three colonies,^ and as the governor was himself chosen by hk 112-115. 
the people in only two colonies, there was in theory very 
Httle popular colonial government, although in fact the Lee (ed.), 
people's influence over the governor was very great.^ In yj _^ ' 
two colonies the governors were selected by the proprietors, 
in two they were elected by the people, and for the others 
were appointed by the king. Courts of justice existed 
in every colony, but no judge of colonial times was chosen 
directly by the people, even in the two little democracies 
of Connecticut and Rhode Island. 

The suffrage laws of the colonies, although narrow from Suffrage laws, 
our point of view, were exceedingly liberal when compared Hart, Contem- 
with those of foreign countries. Every landowner with poraries, 
property of a certain value in the North, or of a certain size 
in the South, was allowed to vote. It is true this excluded 
about ninety-five per cent of the population, but many who 
could not vote on colonial affairs were allowed to take part 
in local government. 

113. Colonial Law. — Although the laws varied con- English 
siderably from colony to colony, there was a uniformity J=°^|^°" 
that is remarkable considering the differences between the America, 
people and the occupations of the various sections. All 
of the colonies had transplanted the English system of 
common law with such modifications as the peculiar 
conditions in each colony required. Many of the laws 
made by the colonial legislatures were merely reenact- 
ments of English statutes. In fact, the laws were few 

^ See Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. ^ See § B>'j. 



124 



Americajt History 



[1750 



Land laws 
of the 
colonies. 

Coman, Indus- 
trial Hist., 
32-38. 



Eggleston, 
in Century, 
XXVIII 

(1884). 

848-852, 



Inheritance 
laws. 



in comparison with the volume of state legislation at 
the present time. 

The system of land laws in use in America illustrates how 
the English system was modified to meet colonial needs. 
Land was considered the property of the king, the name 
real estate, or royal estate, emphasizing this fact. The 
king made grants of land to companies and individuals, so 
that in America the legislature of the charter colonies or 
the proprietor of the proprietary colonies had the right to 
regrant land, and in the royal colonies the governor, as the 
direct representative of the king, had the right. Grants 
were made to individuals with a lavishness^that amounted 
to recklessness, for land was plentiful and cost the grantor 
little or nothing. Not only were large estates numerous, 
but the number of small landowners was very great, as 
most heads of families owned their own farms. Because 
so many people owned land, and because speculation in 
land was common even in colonial times, the slow and cum- 
bersome English system of transferring land was altered 
so that it was easy to sell or buy real estate. 

The American inheritance laws were borrowed from 
England except in the Puritan and Quaker colonies. Else- 
where the estates or farms descended to the eldest son, 
because primogeniture was recognized in New York and 
the South. In New England, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
and New Jersey a double share went to the eldest son, but 
the other children, including the daughters, had an equal 
share in the property of the father when he died without 
making a will. 

TOPICS 

Colonial Manufactures: Coman, "Industrial History of the 
United States," pp. 62-72; Wright, "Industrial Evolution of the 
United States," pp. 23-60, 80-103; Beer, "Commercial Policy of 
England toward the American Colonies," 66-90. 

Colonial Paper Money: Dewey, "Financial History of the 
United States," pp. 21-30; White, "Money and Banking," 103- 
114; Sumner, "History of American Currency," 14-43; Bullock, 
"Monetary History of the United States," I, Chapter IV. 



75o] Colonial Conditions 125 



STUDIES 

1. Conditions in Germany that led to emigration to America. 
(Bittinger, "Germans in Colonial Times," pp. 11-24.) 

2. German redemptioners. (Bittinger, "Germans in Colonial 
Times," pp. 215-229.) 

3. Maryland society in the seventeenth century. (Browne, 
''Maryland," pp. 157-183.) 

4. Life in Virginia two centuries ago. (Fiske, "Old Virginia," 
II, pp. 174-269.) 

5. Conditions in the English colonies (1688). (Andrews, "Co- 
lonial Self-Government," pp. 293-304.) 

6. The true Captain Kidd. (Champlain, in Harper's Magazine, 
106 (1902), pp. 27-36.) 

7. Meat and drink in colonial times. (Earle, "Home Life in 
Colonial Days," pp. 142-165.) 

8. Dress of the colonists. (Earle, "Home Life in Colonial Days," 
pp. 281-299; Eggleston, in Century, XXIX (1885), pp. 882-892.) 

9. The colonial theater. (Eggleston, in Century, XXX (1885), 
pp. 403-407.) 

10. Church and meeting house before the Revolution. (Eggles- 
ton in Century, XXXIII (1887), pp. 901-912.) 

11. Sunday in the colonies. (Earle, "Home Life in Colonial 
Days," pp. 364-3S7.) 

12. American prose (i 701-1764). (Trent, "American Litera- 
ture," pp. 98-130.) 

13. The colonial governor. (Hart (ed.), "Contemporaries," Nos. 
54-60.) 

14. Local government in the southern colonies, (Fiske, "Civil 
Government," pp. 71-78.) 

15. Middle colonies in colonial times. (Lee (ed.), "North 
America," VI, pp. 29-39.) 

QUESTIONS 

1. Show how physical conditions, climate, and rainfall affected 
slavery in the North, in Virginia, and in South Carolina. What 
advantage did the South derive from slavery? 

2. To what extent were the colonies alike in 1750 ? Why did they 
remain isolated ? What was the result of their separateness on their 
dealings with Great Britain ? 

3. What are the chief differences between the houses, food, dress, 
and manner of living in 1 750 and to-day ? Name several conveniences 
that are now considered necessaries which were unknown in 1750. 

4. Explain why England and the colonies each took the course 



126 American History \MS^ 

they did in reference to paper money? Was paper money necessary? 
What influence did it have on the opening of new lands, commerce, 
on business in general ? 

5. Note the important changes, political, legal, social, and indus- 
trial, that have taken place in America in the last century and a half. 

6. In what respect had the colonists more or less political liberty 
than the English? Why did the local governments of the colonies 
influence our later history more than the central colonial governments ? 



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Its Historical Development, Government, and Policies 

Revised edition. i2mo, xhi + 62g pages, $2.00 net 
A new edition of a standard text-book in civics for high schools and colleges. 

American Government 

A Text-Book for Secondary Schools 

Cloth, i2mo, illustrated, $1.00 net 

" In this well-considered manual we have a clear and succinct account of the 
character and functions of the American Government ; its development, its 
inter-relations, its limitations, its influence upon the people, and its demands 
upon them as citizens are clearly described. It is well adapted for use in sec- 
ondary schools, and would be useful in any consideration of the principles of 
citizenship." — Journal of Education, 

" Of unusual merit, not only because of its careful preparation and almost non- 
partisan standpoint, but for its lucid narrative, for its logical arrangement, and 
for the broad spirit which animates it." — iXew York Times. 

American History 

Half leather, i2mo, .xxxv + jjy + •^"^■^" P^^(^s, illustrated, maps, $1.40 net 

Intended as a text-book for use in secondary schools, and follows a method 
which the author has found satisfactory in his own large experience as a 
teacher. It covers the entire history of the country to the present date, and is 
more abundantly furnished with helps for the student and teacher in the way 
of references, review questions, etc., than any other book of its kind. 

Government and the Citizen 

Cloth, i2mo, illustrated, $.70 net 

" An admirably planned and well-executed text-book for American students. 
. . . Mr. Ashley has performed his task with exceptional ability, and, it should 
be added, has in each chapter supplemented his instructive text by a series of 
searching questions, stimulating further work on the part of the student." — 
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Professor EDWARD CHANNING'S 

History of the United States 

Now Ready 

I — The Planting of a Nation in the New World, 1000-1660 
II — A Century of Colonial History, 1660-1760 

Each volume is attractively hound in dark blue cloth, 
with gilt top. Price of each, $2.50 net; by mail, $2./o 

It should be noted that these two volumes are complete in themselves as 
covering the whole period of colonial history. The second volume in partic- 
ular covers the most difficult period in the history of this country, the eigh- 
teenth century. The N'ew York Sun refers to the narrative as " particularly 
distinguished " by " the careful attention given to such broad themes " as 
" the development of colonial industry and commerce ; the systems of labor 
obtaining' in the colonies ; the progress toward religious toleration and the 
march of education." 

The English Historical Review writes of the work : 

" Many as are the histories of the United States, Professor Channing has 
ample justihcation in adding another to the list, not only in his new point of 
view, but in his exhaustive knowledge. His narrative flows on so smoothly 
that it is only when one realizes the immense mass of controversies which he 
settles with calm common sense, the thoroughness of his bibliography, the 
sanity of his criticisms on the hundreds of authors consulted, that one grasps 
the fulness of his erudition. . . . From the conception of his task it follows 
that the English background must be kept in view, and here Professor Chan- 
ning treads with the same sureness. His accounts of English religious con- 
ditions and of English local government in the seventeenth century are alike 
excellent. . . . Early colonial history is both complicated and controversial, 
but there are few slips either in detail or in perspective. Between the mother 
country and the colonies he holds the scales fair, doing justice to Great Brit- 
ain without falling into the exaggerated imperialism of some recent American 
authors. Though his heart is with the colonists he does not fail to point out 
their weaknesses, and though tracing in detail the record of English mis- 
management he rarely exaggerates. Yet beneath this reserve there is at 
times a glow of hidden fires." 

Other Volumes on the Revolutionary and 
Later History of the United States are in Preparation 



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The American Colonies in the 
Seventeenth Century 

By HERBERT L. OSGOOD, Ph.D. 

Professor of History in Columbia University 

In three octavo volumes, each $2.50 net 

" Will adequately fill a gap that has hitherto existed in American historical 
literature." — Daily Evening Transcript. 

" Not only is this work exhaustive and careful, but in originality of plan 
and in the field of investigation it is decidedly a pioneer production." — 
Charles Lee Raper in the Piiblicaiions of the Southern Historical Asso- 
ciation. 

" Professor Osgood's work differs from all other comprehensive studies of 
American colonial history in its consistent interpretation of that history from 
the point of view and in the terms of public law. This has not involved any 
neglect of social and economic material, or of the personal element which 
lends to our colonial annals so much of charm; but such material has been 
used as illustrating political growth, rather than for its own sake. The style 
is readable and effective, and the wealth of incident is great. . . . 

" Outside of the writers of a few special works, no historian has yet thought 
it worth while to tell us much about the way in which the private ownership 
of land was established and developed in New England, how taxes were levied 
and collected, the objects of colonial and local expenditure, the legal regula- 
tion of industry and trade, the organization, equipment, and employment of 
the military forces of the colonies, or the method of governmental dealings 
with the Indians. Thanks to Professor Osgood's researches, however, we 
have at last a clear and orderly outline of the governmental and administra- 
tive life of the people in these respects, . . . Altogether, the book must be 
adjudged the most substantial and masterful contribution made to the study 
of American colonial history in recent years." — The Nation, New York. 

"The evidence, which with but a single exception is drawn from printed 
sources, is weighed with consistent impartiality, each charter, concession, and 
legislative act being dissected with great minuteness of detail; and the ma- 
terial compared and distributed with logical exactness until the whole takes 
on an orderly form, and we see for the first time what was the institutional 
organization of the colonies in the seventeenth century. . . ." — Professor 
Charles M. Andrews, in The American Historical Review. 



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By WILLIAM MACDONALD 

Professor of History in Brown University 

Select Charters and Other Documents 

Illustrative of American History, 1606-1775 

Cloth i2?no $2.00 net 

" This volume . . . supplements the author's previous work, entitled * Se- 
lect Documents Illustrative of the History of the United States, 1776-1861.' 
The same sound judgment has been shown in the selection and the editing of 
the state papers, and the work is essential to every good reference library," — 
The Outlook. 

" Professor MacDonald shows good judgment in his selections, and his 
book should materially assist the teaching of American history. ... It will 
be a great convenience everywhere." — 77ie Nation. 

Select Documents 

Illustrative of the History of the United States, 1776-1861 

Cloth 121)10 $2.2S net 

" It is a valuable book to students of American history, and, indeed, to all 
persons who care to discuss our present problems in their historical bearings. 
We can think of no public document, from the promulgation of the Declaration 
of Independence to the adoption of the Constitution of the Confederate States, 
to which frequent reference is made, which is not at least summarized in this 
volume. The summaries, furthermore, whether of judicial decisions, reports, 
treatises, messages, or resolutions, are admirably made. It is an invaluable 
book for every reference library." — T/ie Outlook. 

Select Statutes and Other Documents 

Illustrative of the History of the United States, 1861-1898 

Cloth 127)10 $2.00 net 

"The political and civil phases of the war; slavery and civil rights; recon- 
struction and the readmission of the states; legal tender, silver coinage, bank- 
ing, and finance; the amendments and acts relating thereto; naturalization, 
polygamy, and Chinese exclusion; the election of senators; the electoral count; 
the presidential succession; and recent phases of expansion — these subjects 
indicate the scope and importance of the topics selected. Certain notable 
presidential messages, like the Venezuelan message of President Cleveland in 
1893, are included. The valuable notes and references preceding each docu- 
ment are included in this volume as in the others. Professor MacDonald's 
final volume sustains the merit of a series whose usefulness and value have al- 
ready received wide recognition." — James A. Woodburn, in The American 
Historical Review. 

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